Sermon Central
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A Place Of Service
Contributed by Joe Rowland on Apr 11, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: I dreamed that our church had become a restaurant. A family that used to go to our church walked in and I served them. As Christians we are to serve others.
A Place of Service
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.
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?
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
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.
