In this sermon, Pastor Babij wraps up his mini series on the reality of true discipleship by looking at 1 Peter 4:7-11. Pastor Babij explains five imperatives from Peter in light of the end and the coming reward for believers:
- Keep your head clear for the purpose of prayer
- Keep your heart warm for the purpose of love
- Keep your home open for the purpose of hospitality
- Keep your hands busy for the purpose of service
- Keep your apron on for the purpose of humility and God’s glory
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to First Peter of course I am in the gospel of Mark and I kind of branched out for several weeks uh to talk about the Judgment seat of Christ and crowns as a reward and just a understanding that we should all have that we live in the tension between uh this age and the age the future age to come that’s how many uh and that’s how scripture actually uh shows how to deal with or think about time and so I was looking from the passage where it says in verse 30 of Mark but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and Farms along with persecutions and and the in the age to come eternal life so that’s what we see in scripture we see the sense that this world is uh as far as time and as far as how the scripture looks at time it is the sense of being in the present when whatever time you lived and then looking forward to the age to come so between now and then what are we to do and that’s the question that I would like to answer and I’ve been I started last week because remember there’s a very important thing that the church always must be looking for and according to Titus it is the Blessed hope it is the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus that’s what we are looking for in this intrum period so the return of Christ is is not only connected with these Heavenly privileges uh that the scriptures tell us about but also about the Holy responsibilities that we have while we live here in this age and I have already mentioned that God is Not only a judge but he is also a rewarder and he’s a rewarder of those who are faithful and the faithful will receive at the Judgment seat actually the followers of Christ will receive either one or more crowns as they run the Christian race as they fight the good fight of Faith as they as they fight for the faith the doctrine that has been delivered to us and and so I mentioned there were five specific crowns the first one was The Incorruptible crown and that was one that was rewarded to or is given to those who diligently exercise self-control in all things in order to run the Christian Life well now if you’re in First Peter right now I want you to notice a couple passages of scriptures there that I’m not going to cover but I want you to notice what it says in verse number three it says for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality lust drunkenness carousing drinking parties and abominable idolatries and then notice verse four it says in all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation and they malign you now of course there it is right there there is the picture of us becoming Believers and we left the old life and now we’re in the new life and because we’re in the new life people are surprised that you’re not partying like you used to party before they even malign you because of it now I know that many have experienced that but really there’s that crown of exercising self-control in all things and then of course the second Crown was the unselfish worker or the soul Winner’s Crown the crown of rejoicing that Crown is G given to those who diligently share the gospel with the sole purpose of leading people to receive Jesus Christ as their lord and savior then there was the shepherd’s Crown the Crown of Glory that is given to those given to pastors and elders and church leaders who faithfully and loving oversee God’s flock and then there’s the sufferers Crown the crown of life that is given to those who Faithfully endure and persevere under trials and tests the tests of life and even of course the one who endorsed to the ultimate test which is to give their life in death for the sake of the gospel for the sake of Christ and then we saw the fifth one was the Watchers crown or the crown of righteousness and of course this is rewarded for those who eagerly look for the Lord’s coming and in light of that live a righteous life in view of this expectation and of course uh Second Timothy says in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award me on that day that’s the day of judgment and not only me but also to all who have loved his appearing so it will be a crown for the Victorious Warrior or the verse before that of course it says I have fought the good fight I have finished the course I have kept the faith so here it is the crown of righteousness that is rewarded to those who eagerly look for the Lord’s coming and then live a righteous life in view of that that expectation see that is where we live we live in the place which we are anticipating the Lord’s appearing we’re thinking about that every single day of our lives and we’re living according to that that’s driving our life that’s the thought in our mind so of course that’s going to change some things we do it’s going to change some places we go some people we may hang hang out with or did hang out with it may it will change actually everything in your life and of course that the pursuit of these crowns are all done coupled with this belief that Jesus is coming soon in light of this imminent event Christians are given some straightforward forward directives on how to live under the shadow of Christ’s soon return so we are all to live in in this expectation that he is coming and so I asked the question last time what should we do if we believe Jesus is coming soon because he is and that there is a judgment seat of Christ and there will be see there are five things that we should do according to this passage and I’m kind of limiting it limiting it to this passage but I’ll look at other passages to kind of fill fill it in a bit and I said there were five things and the first one was this in light of the end if you notice what it says in verse 7 it says the end of all things is near so that’s what he is getting his audience to see listen we’re we’re coming to the end even in the Apostle Peter’s day they were living in light of the Lord’s return and so the five things which I’ll of course elaborate on this morning is the first one is to keep your head clear for the purpose of prayer the second is to keep your heart warm for the purpose of love thirdly is to keep your home open for the the purpose of hospitality fourthly is to keep your hands busy for the purpose of service and good deeds and then lastly to keep your apron on for the purpose of humility and God’s glory and so I started last week looking at the first one and I don’t want to go back to that one in verse number seven of First Peter chapter 4 the first one is to keep your head clear and that’s the people in the church that their minds would be clear for the purpose of prayer before it says in verse 7 for the end of all things is at hand therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer now this becomes the first thing that he actually mentions and the end of all things the end of all things or the end of things that are are at hand are not the end of the cessation of all things but the outcome everything is heading toward a goal in God’s program in other words we can have all our ducks in a row spiritually as far as understanding right Doctrine and understanding what the believer’s conduct should be in this world if a Christian Soldier attempts to fight though in his own strength he will actually be re be rendered crippled by the devil and his forces and Peter of course deals with that in this epistle so you see you can believe everything correctly and do everything correctly but if you don’t believe in this necessity of regular prayer you are in the battle without communication now or the battle without Cals and that’s a military talk we’re being cut off from the vital communication that we should have between ourselves and our God in other words we should always be in contact with the command center that’s our admonition and because there is should be a living connection that the Christian Soldier must have to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to keep growing strong so in Ephesians chapter 3 don’t turn there God’s empowering us and God strengthening us is linked with the Holy Spirit and prayer for it says this that he would Grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the Inner Man and then in chapter 6: 18 it says with all prayer and petition pray at all times in the spirit so see Christians do not possess the power in their Christian Life gain through some driving uh energy or some polished skill that they have or some TR trusted method that seems to work in the world that’s not where they get their power Believers maintain power for Spiritual Warfare through prayer it was uh a professor at Master Seminary who wrote in the master Seminary Journal we make fools of ourselves setting ourselves up for mediocrity emptiness and disaster if we do not insist to be much in prayer whatever the cost and this I believe is one of the major areas that Satan fights against in his people they want to pray they they believe that prayer should be in their life but if you really look at it in the 160 hours 68 hours a week that it’s given to all of us if we were honest with ourselves how much do we really engage in serious prayer because prayer will cost something the cost may be a little less time to eat dinner or it may be getting up early in the morning or coming home from work at a little earlier to set aside some time to pray or a little less time watching TV or surfing social media see there will be some self-denial some discipline of the flesh some moving around of the schedule in order to be persistent in prayer so we all should be engaged in all kinds of prayer we in private prayer we should have a time of of private prayer we’re in our private prayer closet We’re Alone there’s no interruptions and we’re talking to the Lord we’re adoring him we’re confessing our sin we’re thanking him and we are praying for others we’re giving supplication before the Lord and then of course there’s public prayers the prayer that is given up by the body of Christ where we have the prayer meeting we like to see more people come out to the prayer meetings and be part of that because it is important for prayer to be gathered the gathered people of God and then of course there’s also heart prayers the Bible talks about and those are prayers that you know why we just don’t know how to put them into words and we just groan in our spirit before the Lord we just are so burdened by something we just come before the Lord and moan but the Lord understands our heart and where we’re at and of course there are the prayers of praise and blessing and thanks and confession and affirmation see prayer is offered to be offered at every conceivable time and in every conceivable way it was a man who uh two men who wrote a book that uh on spiritual warfare and they said this about prayer they said our real obstacle to frequent and consistent prayer is often our failure to acknowledge our deep need for God and our pressing dependence upon him see when we do not sense our weakness when we do not sense our helplessness our dependence and our danger we will not pray but if we do sense our weakness if we do sense our helplessness if we do sense that we need to be dependent on God and if we do sense the danger that we’re in in this world especially as Believers then we will pray so they said that having an acute awareness of the war and our weakness will drive us to our needs I believe they are correct in that that when Christians realize they’re in spiritual warfare in battle against their own flesh the remaining corruption against the world and against Satan himself when they know that they will pray because they sense all those things they sense the weakness of their own flesh they sense their inability to do things God ask them to do they sense all that and they know they need to come to the Lord in prayer Ephesians says that with all this in view be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints so it means for the Christian that if we are to pray in timely Effectiveness we cannot fall asleep at the switch we cannot fall asleep at our post we ought to be praying all the time again it was uh Dr rusop Who actually went home to be with the Lord recently he wrote many novels too besides writing Theology and he said that Christians ought to have a tobacco juice alertness and what he meant by that is he used to write a lot of western novels he said that early American Cowboys who took drastic measures to keep alert and to hold fast to their work while guarding cattle at night exemplified this particular idea they would rub tobacco juice in their eyes to make them he he calls it smart or awake and to keep them open and help the writers stay at their vigil even when they were extremely weary it’s not bad advice for you and I and I’m I’m not saying you go get tobacco and chew it and rub it in your eyes I’m not saying that I’m saying it in the very figurative way you understand that right so Brethren Luke chapter 18 reminds us that if we are without prayer if we don’t pray we will faint it says this now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart so if we don’t pray we will faint we will not be able to fight but got to ask yourself today what is the character of your prayer life what place does it have in your daily routine does it even have a place in your daily routine and what place does the public prayer meeting have in your weekly schedule or in our home groups when we meet together to pray we kind of spread prayer out a little bit all over the place so we’re always praying somewhere so if you don’t pray you are weak and faint but you don’t have to be weak in faith that’s the point so you can remain strong strong in the Lord so Christians remain strong in the Lord when they are in touch with Jesus the commander of the troops right that’s when they are strong they’re communicating with the Lord the Lord’s speaking to them through his word they have a vital moving growing relationship with Christ and we are not to give up or become discouraged when answers to our prayers are delayed remember God knows how and when to answer prayer our responsibility our responsibility is to keep praying to to trust God completely for the answer according to his will in his according to his time frame so and under this first one the things that we ought to be doing in the interim between present age and the age to come is that while you live in constant expectation of Christ’s sudden return and the judge seat of Christ keep your head clear for the purpose of constant communication with God that is what we ought to be doing that is what we should be doing every day of our life the second one is in first verse eight of our text above all keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins so secondly keep your heart War for the purpose of love love for others all right and of course if we as Christ disciples are going to fight the good fight of Faith are if we’re going to finish the race and keep the faith then we must get our example of love from the Lord himself actually I mentioned last time that when we draw near to the end and the end in which we’re in right now actually the love of many is going to grow cold we live in a world world that the love of many is growing cold and the reason why is because this this rise of iniquity this rise of sin uh this mystery of sin is becoming more visible and evident all around us all over the world the world again has gone crazy they are insane uh from the top level to the botom there is insanity when people can’t find Common Sense anywhere there’s got to be something wrong and of course what is wrong is that God is not in the picture what is wrong is they do not make plans with the Eternal god with the Lord Jesus Christ they do not follow those principles God has been thrown out and they have shut and locked the door and so when that happens then we’re up the whims of people the whims of this politician or that person or this person were at the whims of sinful humanity and in that case then we surely have U gone insane as a country and as a world but here the Bible is telling us to keep our hearts warm fervent and for what reason because fervent love this kind of love covers a multitude of sins in people all right we are we can’t work with people or minister to people if we are judges of those people all right here it’s telling us that we don’t ignore sin or condone sin but we bear with each other because we know our own failures we know our own sin and so love fervent love enables us to show love to the Brethren beyond our ability it’s a spirit Le love for the Brethren so that even though a Christian’s love will be stretched it will never reach the breaking point so to cover a multitude CS for really a greater strain than to cover just a few sins and so again while we live in this constant expectation of Christ’s sudden return in the Judgment seat of Christ we are to keep our heart War for the purpose of loving others and then today verse uh number three would be found in verse number nine and it’s this it says be hospitable to one another without complaint so in other words to keep your home open I could say it in another way to keep your heart open also for the purpose of hospitality to show Hospitality to the saints that you know and to the saint who are strangers that come to you and believe me the responsibility is always first to the Saints it’s not just to anyone it’s to the Saints it’s to those who are already in the Lord we should go there first and be helping those people out so here is a Crucified Life characterized by a glad giving of oneself and one’s substance to provide for someone’s need now if you if in the background the rise of the persecution of Believers and the displacement of different people groups even in this time during Peter’s time there was the dispora where Christians were scattered all over the place because they were being dogged for their faith and so a lot of times they were destitute they had no homes to go to so had they had to depend on Christian hospitality even in the world today you go to other countries and people are being displaced everywhere for one reason because they’re Christians and they’re losing everything where do they go they go to a refugee camp and they don’t have any possessions with them they have nothing anymore many times they take the men and they kill them and they take the women and they rape them and the daughters and then if you make it to a refugee camp when you get there there is poor water poor sanitation the living arrangements are horrible and these are happen this is happening because mostly because people are believers that’s happening today we don’t feel that always in the United States because we’re so far removed from it but what if it comes to our Shores quickly what if this happens see the body of Believers are called upon to open their homes and to show the warmth of Christ to strangers that are professing to know Christ and if you notice tagged on the end of verse number nine if you notice this little thing here’s the holy attitude that goes with it do it without complaining or grumbling now let’s face it Believers today we live in America we live comfortable lives we have homes to go to we drive nice cars we have we go home we have air conditioning we have heat we have good food we have our our supermarkets are packed with food right and sometimes because of that we do not think of what’s going on in other places and sometimes because of that we don’t get ready if we are called upon to actually help somebody because we have such an abundance but we ought to be ready to help others when it comes to hospitality so in other words that this Hospitality has to be part of the fabric of the Endtime community of Believers that we’re ready to do this are we ready to do this I would say this no I don’t know if I’m ready to do this but as I think of scripture I need to get ready because if we think of the Gospel of John John chapter 3 where uh gaas was uh sending Believers to that area and saying listen take care of these Believers take care of these many times they were missionaries and preachers and he says yes they’re strangers you don’t know them but I’m recomend recommending them to you please take care of them and he admonishes them in third John that if you’re if they’re going to testify of Your Love then they’re going to testify of that because of your generosity so when they come to them come to you meet their needs and then when they leave you this is what it says in 3rd John 1:6 and they have testified of Your Love Before the church you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God in other words if we are Christ’s disciples and are going to fight the good fight of faith and finish the race and keep the faith then we must model God’s generosity toward others now the early Christians shared their possessions and were generous with one another for one basic reason because they learn generosity from God see God has been generous with them and now they are determined to be gracious and generous with one another and God considers spirit filled generosity to be a serious matter because it reflects the generosity of God himself that he has shown to all of us as his people so demonstrating loving generosity towards God’s True Believers and spokesmen Incorporated several activities for the church number one to secure lodging for them if they needed a place to stay and secondly when they left you to send them with adequate Provisions like food and money and clothing and evening even traveling companions to secure their safety from one place to another that was a huge task and yet in the end time Church we’re to be considering these things to being generous with people and to opening up our homes in our Hearts to those who have needs so while you live in constant expectation of Christ sudden return in the Judgment seat of Christ keep your homes open for the purpose of showing Hospitality I might just drop in and want to crash at your house one evening the problem is getting through the door today at one time uh you were able to knock on a door and people would uh open it today they don’t open it uh at all and they don’t even acknowledge that they’re there that’s it’s just it’s a different day people are afraid they they’re they don’t trust anybody you can’t blame them in several ways the news keeps us uh I don’t know everything in the news seems to generate some kind of fear type of you know we have to be afraid of this and afraid of that if you don’t do this you don’t have to fear anything actually uh when you’re a Christian just live your life as a Believer and God takes care of the rest of it right just do that do these things here’s the fourth thing and this this is one area that I do want you to look at the scripture I’m going to go to another passage because it definitely has something directly uh for you in 1 Peter chapter 4 notice in verse number 10 and 11 it says this and here’s the fourth one to keep your hands busy for the purpose of service your spiritual gifts all right look what it says in verse number 10 it says as each one has received the special gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold manifold grace of God then verse 10 it says whoever speaks let him speak as if as it were the utterances of God and whoever serves let him do so as by the strength which God supplies let me just stop there so in other words in these last days we need to be busy with our hands for the purpose of using our spiritual gifts so the question I have in our membership class when we get to that place is this do you know your spiritual gift because it says right in our text here each one has received one each believer has a spiritual gift number one do you know what it is you have at least one and number two have you been using it have you actually been engaged in using it so see the last days is not a time to be idle it’s a Time to continue to work diligently in the Lord’s work in the Lord’s church so in light of the Lord’s coming in the Judgment seat of Christ Christians are to be good stewards in the utilization of their spiritual gift and remember a spiritual gift is an ability given to an individual Believer by God and I would say this after conversion that the believer might serve God effectively for building up the church that God distributes gifts to everybody for building up the church all right now this is what I’d like you to do take your Bibles and turn back to First Corinthians chapter 12 1 Corinthians chapter 12 all right now if you look in verse number 14 it says this for the body is not one member but many all let me just stop right there and then we’ll look at verse 50 in a minute see so that means that each member of the body has a part all of its own and that means each part has a responsibility that can be uh handled better by itself than by any other but it remains a unit it remains functioning within the body now there are two primary reasons why Christians seldom or even sometimes never become involved serving their local body of Believers now I am assuming that these are genuine Believers that I’m talking about and here’s the first one the first one is this because they feel they have no gifts or abilities that are worthy and so they sit back and let other others do the work so in the church there exists an inferiority complex as far as spiritual gifts and then there also exists a superiority complex both of these things are on the level of Pride and need to be repented of before the Lord now I want you to notice in verse number 15 of CH 1 Corinthians chapter 12 because Paul lays out his argument and he lays it out first talking about the in inferiority complex that exist in the church and it says this and he uses the body as an analogy in verse 15 it says if the foot should say because I am not a hand I am not part of the body is it not for this reason any less a part of the body now it sounds like almost a ridiculous argument but it’s not because he’s making a point all right see the foot thought it could not be part of the body because was not the hand see the hands are have visibility they can perform many abilities the feet generally cannot do these things the feet generally are unappealing and usually they are covered and therefore not very visible so it concludes that I am not a visible and a gifted as as gifted as the hand and I am not need it and so therefore I’m not part of the body all right well it is part of the body in verse 16 he gives another part of the body he says and if the ear should say because I am not an eye I am not part of the body is not for this reason any less a part of the body see the ear thought it was left out because it was not an eye the eyes are visible and colorful and can be made very glamorous the ears are are often filled with wax covered by hair sometimes unseen uh these things that flap on the side of your head all right so they don’t build very much ego so therefore the it would conclude I’m not needed and not part of the body so see the Corinthian Church was caught up in the eye and the Hand gifts and therefore neglecting the other gifts where it says in verse 17 if the whole body were an eye where would the hearing be if the whole were a hearing we hearing where would the sense of smell be see we’re not just one blob like an eye we’re not just an ear right we are our our bodies have multitude multiple parts to it and believe me I am thankful that this part is functioning along with this part and that part is functioning along with this part aren’t you all right because when they stop functioning what happens you have disease right you have other complications that happen which makes it hard to move you have pain in the body people get crippled all kinds of things happen when it’s not functioning properly so see the the principle is clear here in the text no member can accomplish its own removal from the human body by complaining or appreciating its own importance everyone therefore has a responsibility to accomplish something toward the growth of the church body because God’s given gifts to everyone in the church no matter how inconspicuous that gift may be you if you are a believer in Christ Jesus are very much needed in Christ’s body but there’s another problem in the church and that’s the superiority complex found in verse 21 now this complex before I read that are others who feel that they are highly qualified and that they don’t need help of others to perform any tasks or Ministries in other words they are The Loner person I don’t need anybody I’m self-sufficient I can get this job done right and so they begin to do that but I want you to notice what it says in verse number 21 it says in the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you or again the head to the feet I have no need of you see the eye and the Hand refer to members in the body that are superior to the hand and the foot because the eyes function in the body is more important and prominent than the hand the head also functions with a complex task within the body in in in all practicality it is the body computer it is very important uh the head therefore it has a more exalted place than the foot see but what would the eye be without the hand it would be less than it would it could be there would be no eye and hand coordination or what would the head be without the foot it would not be able to transport itself from one place to another in fact the eyes and the hand function or the head’s function would be greatly curtailed without the full function of the hand and the foot so in other words both of these groups whether the in inferior inferior inferiority group or the superiority group both of them are committing the sin of Pride because they’re not looking at their gifts the way God Des designed them see one said that they don’t need me while the other says I don’t need them others say I don’t have a gift a second or somebody will say I have a second rate gift still others doesn’t matter because I’m so an important no one’s going to ever recognize me anyway I’m just going to stay in the background and they don’t really need me anyway see all those all that way of thinking is is really self-centered it’s really the reverse and the both sides of the sin of pride pride can either look down at someone or Pride can say God hasn’t gifted me and so therefore I can’t be used well God says he’s given a gift to everyone so see there’s a problem in understanding what God has done and so the bottom line is is this that whatever gifts God has given you he has given each believer at least one and many Believers more than one so whether they are quiet and behind the scene gifts and abilities or they are more Grand and visible no one has the privilege to act alone our duty Dy before God is to cooperate with all the other gifted Christians in the body so the whole body can be edified and kept healthy see the church is interdependent one upon another we cannot do this alone before God in fact if you’re right there in Corinthians notice verse number 21 what it says it says the and the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you or again the head to the feet I have no need of you see in other words the superior organs need the inferior ones the eye the hand the head the feet and then of course he goes on to say wait a minute there’s other organs that you can’t even see your heart your lungs your kidneys you need them even more all right so they’re not even visible and sometimes you don’t even know exactly how they’re functioning but as as long as you’re healthy you know they’re functioning and so that’s the body that’s the body of Believers and then notice this in verse number 18 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 now no individual chooses for themselves where they are placed in the church body look what it says but now God has placed the members each one of them in the body just as he desired so in other words God’s planned this we have not determined this on our own God’s pleasure alone determines his gifts and your gifts not you instead we should think rightly and soberly and thank the Lord for calling us to Salvation calling us to service and then we should with diligence actively use our spiritual gift in order to edify the body of Christ now that means if you don’t know what your gift is you need to find out what it is and if you don’t do know what your gift is at least one of them you surely must be using it that’s what the scripture say and like I said to the membership class I need your gift and you need my gift and our whole church body cannot even become as healthy as it can be unless everybody is using their spiritual gift so if I came up to you after the service and I said excuse me so what is your spiritual GI can you tell me what it is and then if you can tell me what it is can you described how you were able to use it in the body now that becomes really important to the Lord because that’s how he designed the church and if you design this the church this way then in light of the Lord’s coming and in light of the Judgment seat of Christ Christians are to be good stewards of the utilization of their spiritual gift between this present age and the age to come you can not sit on your laurels you realize that right now in our elders Retreat that we had there was one thing in parents I think you’re going to be very happy about this all right by October we want to get a junior Church grow so some of the kids can go in the back and have their own service and and to teach them to sit in Big Church all right we’re going to try to get that going by October all right but to get that going we need a bunch of men who are going to be teaching back there now not and if we get enough men uh and we’re going to give you what you’re going to teach uh we’re going to give you the lessons that you’re going to teach and you’re going to teach back there but we need men to do it right we need men to be cooperating to do that so we can teach the kids how to sit in uh in big church now some of the people that have have been sitting here all these years with their kids say well how how come you come up with it now and not back then you know right so well we just didn’t have uh means to do it and U I think we do now and we came up with a list of men and your your name is probably on that men so we’re going to be coming to you we’re going to say listen we’re going to be starting this and you’re going to be doing this slot all right and uh and so that’s what we’re going to do so we want to get that going in October and because we do know that you know sometimes when people come uh to church that they don’t always their kids aren’t always ready to sit in in uh the main service and they’re ansy and they’re doing this and that we want to try to teach them a little more not only a Bible lesson but teach them a little bit more about how they’re supposed to respond and live and act when they come up here so when they come up here they’re going to be sitting like little angels they’re going to be listening to every word they’re going to be taking meticulous theological notes right and they’re going to be asking you parents at home some questions that you’re probably not going to be able to answer yeah I would like to see that happen right but we need the men to be participating for that to take place so so those are some things that if the body’s not functioning and if you’re not using your spiritual gift how how are we going to carry it out how are we going to plan things if you’re not using in your gifts all right and believe me there’s serving gifts and there there’s speaking gifts find out what they are and you know if you want we do have a spiritual gift test that we give people in our membership class that’s 119 questions that you you actually evaluate yourself and then at the end you tally it all up and there’s three particular areas that possibly this is not a foolproof thing but possibly your gift May uh you know it may indicate where your gifts at all right and then uh your gifts of course should also be uh recognized by the elders and by the other people in the church say yeah I think you really do have that and then by spouses by husbands and wives say yes I think you do have that gift I believe that’s the Lord’s given you all right so that that’s the kind of thing that um it is so important to have uh know your spiritual gift and be using your spiritual gift in the body of the church it makes it healthy uh it also fulfills you it gives you uh a fulfillment that only God can give by the use of your gift and and remember your gift is not for you your gift is for the church it’s never individual it’s for you it’s for the body it’s about us it’s not about me it’s not about I it’s about us right that’s a a concept that we need to get in our minds one last thing quickly is this all right all say saying all that there’s one last thing listen in 1 Peter chapter back to 1 Peter chapter 4 and it’s this listen number five would be keep your apron on for the purpose of humility and God’s glory in other words so that you by the manner of your life will practice giving glory to God and how do you do that you do that by using your gifts you do that by praying you do that by being hospitable you do that by doing keeping in your mind that the Lord is coming and that your life is being examined by the Lord and that you do desire to have certain rewards and crowns at the end so in other words in verse number 11 it says this in the middle of the verse it says well look at the top it says whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies and then it says so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom bring to belongs the glory and Dominion forever and ever Amen in other words the goal for you and I in our Christian life is to bring glory to God and the more that we grow in Christ likeness the more we reflect God’s glory one theological writer H this he says God made us to magnify his greatness the way telescopes magnify Stars he created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and Justice on display before others that’s why God created us and that is the goal of the Lord in creating us so see we We Gather every Lord’s day to worship our great God and Savior Jesus Christ but our present gather GED worship is only a precursor to the Gathering that will take place in the future in the presence of God and before as it says in Ephesians all the rulers and authorities in Heavenly places so this in in that Gathering God will display his wisdom his power his riches his mercies his inexhaustible Grace and great love and the bright in the bright glory of the church Like We Never imagined it before and the the father can only do all that toward us in Christ Jesus that means that there are no benefits that can come to us unless it comes through Christ and why is that because Christ God has planned and he only deals with humankind and blesses them in and through Jesus Christ he is the one and father is the one who chose Christ to bless us so while we live in the constant expectation of Christ’s sudden return and the Judgment seat of Christ keep your servant apron on for the purpose of humility and God’s glory and let me just end with this when you face Christ will you be rewarded will you have any crowns at all or will there be many regrets regrets because you did not run the Christian race as well as you could have regrets because you didn’t fight the fight to Finish regrets because you didn’t keep the faith as you ought to see we shouldn’t waste our life from this day forward things need to change we need to run the the Christian R race in order to win we need to fight the fight in order to finish we need to keep the faith that means grow in it so you can fight and reveal the deception of the devil and be able to turn his deceptions on top of his head and then we need to run to be rewarded as me with with as many crowns as possible and just for don’t forget this that Jesus fought the greatest battle ever and he won and he is the only one worthy to be called king of kings and Lord of lords so in the end in the end when it’s all done what are we going to do with the crowns that we get where are we going to put them well if you take your Bibles and turn to uh re Revelation chap 4 you find that we give some indication here what exactly is going to take place see in the end the elders and all those who have received crowns will take their crowns and give them to the only one who is worthy where it says in Revelation chapter 4 notice verse 10 the 24 Elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crown SS Before the Throne saying worthy art thou our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power for thou this create all things because of thy will they exist and were created so that means that in the light of the end keep your head clear for the purpose of prayer keep your heart warm for the purpose of fervent love Keep Your Home open for the purpose of hospitality keep your hands busy for the purpose of service and good works and keep your apron on for the purpose of humble service in the glory of God and those are the things if we put them into practice and we can is what God blesses and makes us strong as a church in these last days let’s pray Lord thank you this morning Lord for your great word I thank you Lord Jesus for what is contained in it the encouragement and Lord even the rebuke even the information to be able to examine ourselves more clearly Lord I do pray this morning that you would take your people and that you would give them an understanding of what their spiritual gift is is first Lord that you would give them an understanding that they are truly Believers that they truly have come to know you as their own Lord and personal Savior and that Lord if they have that you would show them how they’re to be used in the body you would make their gifts known to them and then they would start using it so Lord show them in their heart their real passion and desire as a Believer and I pray Lord that they’ be able to start putting those things into practice and so Lord tonight or this morning Lord I just thank you for uh the blessing of being able to go to the word of God and find ansers especially Lord in these days and as we live in the latter days and as we’re looking forward for your coming Lord let us be faithful let us run the race well let us fight the fight and keep the truth and Lord I pray you would give us the strength to do this that we may walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the Flesh and I pray this in Christ’s name amen