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Series Code: SCS
Program Code: SCS000009
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00:33 Chapter 9, The Work and the Life.
00:37 Here we are in the banks of the mighty Fraser River 00:40 in beautiful British Columbia. Today, we're gonna talk 00:43 about God's work in our lives and the work that 00:46 we as Christians must do in this world. But before we 00:49 I'm gonna ask Andrew to lead us in a word of prayer. 00:54 Heavenly father, thank you that you are always at work 00:58 in our lives. We have the assurance of this everyday, 01:02 simply by the feeling of our beatings hearts because 01:04 it is in you that everything lives and moves 01:08 and has it's be. The Apostle Paul wrote in 01:11 Philippians 2:13 that you are constantly working 01:14 us giving us the desire and the power 01:17 to do that pleases you. 01:19 Thank you for your work 01:20 in our lives in Jesus' name amen. 01:24 Christianity isn't just something that we put on 01:27 when we go to church and then set on the shelf 01:30 until the next weekend. It's really a way of thinking 01:33 and feeling about God, about others and about ourselves. 01:38 This is how it works, we start feeling good about 01:41 ourselves when we realize that God loves us and 01:44 forgives us for all the bad things that we've done 01:47 This leads to a deep love and appreciation for the 01:51 God, who loved us enough to send Jesus to rescue us. 01:56 As we study the Bible, we realize that God doesn't 01:59 just love us, but he loves everyone else as well. 02:03 And he wants us to love them too. Jesus says in 02:07 John 15:12, this is my commandment that you love 02:11 one another as I have loved you. We then began looking 02:15 for ways to help others realize that they are also 02:18 loved by God because we know that a relationship with 02:22 God is the best thing that could ever happen to them. 02:26 Eventually, this desire to introduce others to the God 02:29 we love becomes our main focus and we begin to view 02:33 this as the real purpose of our lives. 03:16 Love one another, for love is of God, He who loves 03:28 is born of God and knows God. He who does not love 03:39 does not know God, For God is love, God is love. 03:53 Love one another, for love is of God He who loves 04:04 is born of God and knows God. He who does not love 04:15 does not know God, For God is love, God is love. 05:06 Love one another, for love is of God He who loves 05:17 is born of God and knows God. He who does not love 05:29 does not know God, For God is love, God is love. 05:52 In first Corinthians 13 Paul says, though I have all 05:56 faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not love 05:59 I'm nothing. You know, we need to love one another 06:03 like Jesus loves us. I long to have much more 06:06 that love, so that I can better do the work that 06:09 Jesus wants me to do. One of the ways in which the 06:12 Bible says that God shows his love to us is through 06:16 the ministry of angels. He sends angels down to 06:20 this world. Sometimes people have entertained angels and 06:23 and they look like human beings, they were dressed 06:26 like common men. But they were really angels and so if 06:30 God is constantly sending angels to minister to us 06:33 and that's their work, then I'm wondering have any 06:36 of you ever seen an angel, I know that's a personal 06:39 question it's kind of private too. But is anyone 06:42 courageous enough, brave enough to share maybe a time 06:46 when you thought and you consider that this was the 06:49 work of an angel in your life. Well you know I've 06:53 never actually seen an angel that I know of, but I can 06:57 tell you about an experience with my dad when he was 07:00 a missionary in Africa. He was traveling from Johannesburg 07:05 to Zambia and he had to go through the country of 07:08 Zimbabwe, and this was a very dangerous country to be 07:12 going through because they had a lot of civil unrest 07:15 and they were just about to gain their independence, so 07:18 this was a dangerous country to be going through. And he 07:21 was trying to catch up with a convoy that would take 07:25 him through the country safely with armored vehicles 07:28 all around and everything, and so he got to the border, 07:32 but the convoy had already left without him, and he made 07:38 the decision to go on ahead into the country and 07:40 try to catch with them, and so he started out 07:43 onto the road and it got darker and darker 07:46 and about 11 o'clock at night his car 07:50 just sputtered and stopped and so he went off 07:55 the side of the road and looked onto the hood 07:57 and there was fuel in the carburetor and their 08:00 seem to be spark and he couldn't figure out what 08:02 the problem was. And he thought well I don't know 08:08 why the car stopped, but I'll try starting it 08:10 again and so he did and started up fine 08:14 and he thought well that was weird and so he 08:16 kept on going down the road and about an hour later 08:19 the same thing happened. The car 08:22 just sputtered and stopped once again, 08:25 and so he got out and he looked under the hood 08:29 and everything looked okay and he thought this 08:32 is really strange, that the car is not working 08:36 and he thought you know I don't know what to do 08:38 and this is, this is not good because I'm not here 08:41 in Zimbabwe and several people have been killed 08:45 recently in this area by the insurgents 08:47 and so he just sent up a prayer and said 08:51 Lord you know all about this car 08:54 and you know all about my situation 08:56 and I ask you to please send some help right now 08:59 amen. And within a few minutes a car pulled up 09:06 a BMW and pulled up right in front of him 09:10 and shown it headlights on the hood 09:13 and this man got out and he said can I help you 09:15 with anything, looks like you are having trouble, 09:17 and he started poking around there in 09:21 the engine and he said you know I think your 09:23 coil is bad and my dad said, well that's nice 09:28 but where we're gonna get a coil this time in night 09:30 in the middle no- where and the man said 09:35 well I think I have one in trunk of my car. 09:38 He just happened to have a coil in the 09:39 trunk of his car for his, yeah, car. 09:40 for his car, and my dad's car was different kind of 09:45 car, different kind of car, it wasn't a BMW 09:47 and so my dad said well that's interesting. 09:50 Well, let's put it in so the man went and got the coil 09:54 and they installed it and they started the car 09:58 and it started right up and so my dad said well 10:01 thank you so much what can I ever do to thank you, 10:04 the man said there is nothing you know 10:06 it's okay it is just enough for me to help you. 10:09 And so my dad gave him a couple of apples 10:13 and he said why don't you pull out and the man 10:17 said no, no, no, you go ahead, I wanna make 10:19 sure you are on the road and you are safe. 10:22 And so my dad just pulled out on to the road 10:26 and he turned to wave to the guy and there was 10:28 no car there. Nobody there, no one. 10:31 There is no man, there is no car and my dad 10:34 kind of looked around and said wow God answered 10:38 my prayer. Yeah, he send an angel to help me. 10:41 That's what I would consider to be an angel. 10:43 Someone who came out of nowhere and helped your dad 10:47 to the situation it's just unexplainable. 10:52 Thanks for sharing that. I find it interesting how 10:54 most of us consider it a sacrifice to live 10:58 for the good of others, but what many don't realize 11:01 is that when we bless others we gain a 11:05 bigger blessing ourselves. You probably heard the words 11:08 of Christ, where he says it is better to give 11:10 then to receive. This simple saying describes 11:14 our heaven is such a wonderful place to be. 11:16 You see, this spirit of unselfishness doesn't 11:21 just make the world go round. It makes 11:23 the whole universe go round in fact 11:26 this attitude of counting others better 11:29 then yourself is at the foundation 11:31 of the Ten Commandments. And it's by living 11:35 in harmony with the principle of love that we 11:38 find happiness and meaning in life and by 11:41 living for others I'm preparing myself to live 11:45 in the atmosphere of that perfect place 11:47 called heaven. 11:51 Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do, 11:55 Do not wait to shed your light afar; 12:00 To the many duties ever near you now be true, 12:06 Brighten the corner where you are. 12:12 Brighten the corner where you are! 12:21 Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar; 12:26 Brighten the corner where you are! 12:32 Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear, 12:37 Let not narrow self your way debar; 12:42 Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer, 12:48 Brighten the corner where you are. 12:53 Brighten the corner where you are! 13:02 Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar; 13:07 Brighten the corner where you are! 13:13 Here for all your talent you may surely find a need, 13:18 Here reflect the bright and Morning Star; 13:23 Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed, 13:28 Brighten the corner where you are. 13:33 Brighten the corner where you are! 13:42 Brighten the corner where you are! 13:43 Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar; 13:47 Brighten the corner where you are. 13:56 When we brighten the corner where we are, 13:58 the effort to bless others reacts in blessings upon 14:02 ourselves. So when we bless others, we are actually 14:05 blessing ourselves. In fact, you can never lose 14:08 in doing the work of God. 14:09 You know God could have committed all the work of the 14:14 gospel to the heavenly angels, but He chose to include us in 14:18 this work. In First John 4 verse 7 it says beloved let us 14:22 love one another, because love is of God 14:25 and everyone who loves is born of God. 14:28 So I have a question for you, if love is from God 14:34 have you met someone a real person we can talk 14:37 theoretically about love, but to actually see love 14:40 in action. Have you ever met someone who 14:42 has shown the real love of God in their lives? 14:45 Yes. Whenever my siblings and I look for role model 14:51 in our lives, we always think of our father. 14:55 But this was not always the case. 14:59 When we were children our father was constantly 15:02 on business trips. We had a nice house, 15:07 we had everything we could want, 15:09 but our dad. Then he got a divorce 15:17 and everything changed after that we lost the house, 15:20 we lost the neighborhood, we couldn't afford all those 15:24 things anymore, but that is when my siblings and 15:29 I, that is when we truly started to feel happy. 15:34 Is when he had the divorce and could realize 15:38 he could lose the people that was closest to him 15:41 that was when he decided he was going to be 15:45 the best father he could be to try and regain 15:48 the time he lost. It was at that point 15:53 that we truly gained a father. 15:58 And he started to teach us things that he wanted 16:00 us to learn that he was never able to do 16:04 before and taught us by example 16:07 we would constantly be driving around and whenever you 16:10 would see a homeless person, you just pull off 16:13 to the side of the road and he would help them. 16:17 And this had such a strong impact on me 16:20 as we were leaving a restaurant one day, 16:22 I saw this older woman with filthy rags, 16:25 this homeless person and I just reaching to 16:28 my pocket and pulled out a $10 bill and 16:30 just walked over and said, here. 16:32 So you saw your father doing this 16:34 and now you wanted to do that to help others. 16:36 When my father did, I wanted to do, 16:42 I wanted to be just like my dad. 16:46 And then when I gave this $10 to this woman, 16:49 where just tear streaming down her face. 16:51 She looks into my eyes and says thank you. 16:54 I'll keep you in my prayers. Thank you for the 16:57 kindness you've shown me today. 17:01 Then we all got the horrible news, 17:05 our father have been diagnosed with Leukemia. 17:11 We didn't know how much longer he had to live. 17:13 He didn't know how much he had to live, 17:16 but he knew he had to work twice as hard to 17:20 help us. He started redoubling his efforts 17:26 in order to teach us the things he wants us to know. 17:30 And then there was just one amazing experience 17:33 of when he was with one of his own girlfriends 17:37 he was praying and then just as they were 17:41 praying, all of a sudden she looks out and just 17:43 there is like look of shock and then he stops 17:48 praying looks over there and she is just she can't 17:50 say anything she is just staring at him and then 17:54 he says what is it and she says you, 17:58 you surrounded by a Holy light 18:03 and then another time when he was at the 18:10 hospital receiving his chemotherapy treatments, 18:11 he was laying on the bed and the nurse came 18:13 in and then she dropped everything just looked at 18:16 him, had that same look on her face 18:19 and then my father looked at her and she said 18:22 you have holy light about you. He later 18:26 found out that a friend had gone in front of a 18:28 church and ask for the whole congregation 18:30 to join together in prayer. 18:31 So at that moment they were praying for him. 18:33 At that very hour they were praying for him. 18:36 And then as this light was around him he just felt 18:41 this inner peace that God was with him. 18:43 And even when he was in the hospital, 18:48 even when he could barely lift his head, 18:50 he still wanted to help, and he came up and 18:55 he was always trying to be the best patient 18:57 for the nurses and he has had such a profound 19:00 impact on that, that they all got together, 19:03 got their money together and bought a 19:06 golden angel praying, then the day came 19:17 and it was the funeral my siblings and I, we were 19:22 taking it very hard we had lost someone very 19:24 dear to us. And then we walk into this church, 19:29 this church is huge, this church has two stories 19:34 there is the main island in front and there is two on 19:37 the side and then there is two above it. 19:38 And we walk in and then just hoards of people 19:42 start walking into the church. 19:45 The whole front area is filled. All sides are 19:48 filled and people had to start streaming in 19:50 to get on the top and then my pastor, 19:56 the pastor of the church, he never really got 19:59 to know my father he came up to my mom 20:02 and said who was this man, because your father 20:06 was always in the hospital yeah and so he actually 20:09 didn't get a chance to meet him properly. 20:11 He never really got to know the pastor, 20:14 he was so sick he was not able to get up out 20:17 of bed sometimes to go to church, 20:22 but when my Pastor saw just how many 20:25 people this man's life had touched. 20:29 He was just filled with amazement and looks and 20:33 he says to my mom I had never seen so my 20:36 people at a funeral before. Praise the Lord, 20:40 every single one of those lives he had touched. 20:46 So your father's life was changed when he 20:50 realized that he couldn't always guarantee 20:56 that people were gonna be around him. And 20:58 so he changed from being all centered on work 21:00 to being on relationships, but then he gets his 21:03 terrible news that he has Leukemia and it doesn't 21:08 cause him to stop loving people in fact he 21:11 continues loving them even more and it influences so many 21:14 people's lives. He had created such a profound 21:19 impact on our community that even weeks, 21:24 months after the funeral even years 21:26 after the funeral we would still walk into the 21:29 familiar places where our dad would take us. 21:33 And we would of course order the things 21:37 that we use to order and you know get the 21:40 things like our father would like to get, 21:42 and then the people behind the counter would just 21:45 look at us and be like you look just like your dad. 21:51 You look just like the person that used to come here. 21:54 So you resemble your dad in your features. 21:56 Yeah. And they would look at me, there is a guy 22:00 that used to come here he was so kind to us 22:03 and then we would tell them the story of our dad 22:06 and how he died. And then some of them would just 22:10 tears streaming on their faces and said we are so sorry, 22:13 he was such a nice man. Well that, that 22:17 perfectly shows the love of God in another 22:22 person that when that love is in your life, 22:25 it's almost like the fragrance of a rose 22:28 or a flower it just pervades the atmosphere 22:31 and everyone around can pick up that 22:34 fragrance and it changes their lives too. 22:36 Thanks for telling us that story Luke about your dad. 22:41 Just what does it look like when someone lives 22:43 to bless others. I mean does everyone have to quit 22:46 there jobs become full-time Gospel workers. 22:49 The Bible gives many examples of Godly people 22:52 who did ordinary things in an extraordinary way. 22:55 I think Jesus is the best example though because he 22:59 spend 90% of his 30 years on earth working 23:02 in a carpenter shop doing ordinary things 23:04 just like you and I. But after the life of 23:08 menial labor, God testified that this is my beloved 23:12 son in whom I am well pleased. This was 23:14 before he even started preaching, you see Jesus was 23:18 living a life of total unselfishness even when 23:21 working at a regular job and this pleased God. 23:24 Maybe you and I can do the same right where we are 23:27 with the people that we rub shoulders with everyday. 23:30 When Jesus comes back to the earth to take 23:33 his people home, I want to hear the words 23:35 recorded in Matthew 25:23 well done, 23:39 good and faithful servant you've been faithful over 23:42 a few things I will make you ruler over many 23:45 things enter into the joy of your Lord. 24:03 In the harvest field now ripened, 24:10 There's a work for all to do. 24:16 Hark, the Master's voice is calling, 24:22 To the harvest calling you. 24:28 Does the place you're called to labor 24:34 Seem so small and little known? 24:39 It is great if God is in it, 24:45 For He'll not forsake His own. 24:51 Little is much when God is in it. 24:57 Labor not for wealth or fame. 25:02 There's a crown and you can win it, 25:08 If you go in Jesus' name. 25:14 When the conflict here is ended 25:20 And our race on earth is run, 25:25 He will say, if you've been faithful, 25:37 "Welcome home, my child, well done." 25:45 Little is much when God is in it. 25:50 Labor not for wealth or fame. 25:56 There's a crown and you can win it, 26:02 If you go, If you go, If you go, in Jesus' name. 26:33 it says that when 26:37 Jesus returns, he will turn to those who are 26:40 faithful and been faithfully doing his work and 26:43 say well done good and faithful servant. 26:46 Can you imagine Jesus actually saying to you, 26:49 well done good and faithful servant that those 26:52 words are actually coming from his lips 26:54 that is motivation enough to want do his work. 26:58 You maybe an evangelist or minister, but you don't 27:02 have to be. You can be a mechanic, a nurse, 27:07 a teacher or housewife. If you are faithfully doing 27:11 the work that God has called you to do if others 27:14 are convinced that you desire to do them well 27:17 then you are doing God's work in your life. 27:21 You don't have to wait for extraordinary abilities, 27:24 you don't have to wait for some great occasions 27:26 to do God's work, you can do it right where you are. 27:30 I think though that you need to turn to God 27:33 in prayer and ask him to strengthen you. 27:35 So let's do that right now, let's turn to 27:38 him in prayer and ask him to strengthen us 27:40 so that we can faithfully do his work and hear him 27:43 say to us well done good and faithful servant. 27:48 Heavenly father often we do not feel 27:51 or even think that we are doing anything great, 27:53 but we choose to go forward quietly doing faithfully 27:59 the work of sharing your love with others. 28:03 Lord, you do not ask us to get stressed out 28:08 about the success of the work because this work is 28:11 yours Lord and you are doing it through us. 28:13 And so we commit ourselves to be your workers 28:17 knowing that together with you in this world. 28:20 We are being fitted for the world to come 28:22 in Jesus name we pray, amen. 28:31 Steps to Christ in song is a 13 part series. 28:34 from Fountain View Productions. 28:37 Designed to be an easy non-threatening way 28:39 to share the good news about Jesus Christ 28:41 with friends, relatives, and co-workers. 28:43 Order your copies now by calling 28:46 1-877-490-4141 or visit us 28:51 online at www.fountainviewproductions.com. 28:56 Steps to Christ in Song is also available at your local 29:00 ABC Christian Book Store. |
Revised 2014-12-17