God Given Task

[00:00:01] When we should pray, and how we should pray, you know. And why we should pray, you know. So let's. Let's go ahead and do this lesson. The God given task. [00:00:14] Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. [00:00:41] Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. [00:01:00] Now, I'm going to stop right here in the middle of the scripture, basically at the beginning of it. I just want to be clear that you understand that, again, the focus of this is prayer as we go on with the scripture, not with our service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing, any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bound or free. [00:01:40] And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. Yes. So finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. [00:02:02] Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. [00:02:32] So this scripture is used by a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons. Some political, some to justify slavery, some to justify their right to rule, and so forth and so on. It has all kinds of implications, if you will. [00:02:53] But when you read it in its entirety, then you understand that the relationship that is really talking about is our individual relationship to God. [00:03:03] That that is the most important, that it doesn't matter what your circumstances are, whether you are the owner or the employee, whether you are the husband or the wife, whether you are the parent or the child, whether you are a master or a slave. It doesn't matter. The real point of it is that all of us, regardless if we are walking with God, if we are in the spirit, then our relationship to him is what is important. [00:03:38] And regardless as to which one of those categories you fall into, the way that you treat other people is based upon your relationship with God. So if you are a master, then, and you have slaves, then you should treat them in a godly manner. [00:04:00] That's what it's telling us. If you are an employee, then you should treat your boss in a godly manner. [00:04:08] And the same relationship exists between parents and children. If we treat each other in a godly manner, then what he is telling us here in very simple form is that in the evil day, you will be able to stand with him. [00:04:27] In the day of judgment, you will be able to stand with him. [00:04:31] You know, there is no reason to, even as our minister Shirley said earlier, there is no reason to walk in fear because God is with you. [00:04:43] That's his promise. [00:04:47] So in those relationships that we have, recognize that as is occurring right now in the Middle east, they're using the weapons, they're using carnal weapons. [00:05:01] You stop and think about it. You're talking about two people fighting over land that was given by God. [00:05:11] Both sides claiming belief in God, but yet both sides are not using the weapons of our warfare. [00:05:23] You know, and that's where the issue is at. That's what the problem is. So, yes, masters have problems with slaves and slaves have problems with masters, and parents have problems with children and so forth and so on. Because of the simple fact that they are using carnal weapons, they are nothing allowing God to work in them. They're not allowing the godliness that is in them to work. So the God given task that we all have is in fact prayer. [00:05:55] Some of us are called to be the master and some are called to be the slave and so forth and so on. It doesn't really make any real difference if you're not praying, because if you're not praying, if you don't have that relationship with God, then you're going to end up in the same place anyway. And then you can fight it out there for the rest of eternity. [00:06:20] Now, so that's ephesians chapter six, the first 13 verses, and it's out of the King James version. [00:06:30] So let's go on with the lesson obedience in everything you do, even when working alone. [00:06:40] When you're alone, you can be disobedient. [00:06:48] Recognize God is watching. Try to please him all the time because of your reverent fear of the Lord. [00:06:59] Yes. [00:07:02] Always keep your mind on Jesus so that the Lord will give you an inheritance in your reward. Excuse me, as your reward. Excuse me for 1 second. I'm sorry. [00:07:28] And at the bottom of the first page, those of you that would like a copy of the lesson, I will either have them here, they'll be here next week, or I can email them to you. Just send me your email address. [00:07:45] So always keep your mind on Jesus so that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward. You know, when Jesus comes, you know he's bringing everybody's reward regardless as to whether you're good or bad. So your reward is based upon what you have done, on what your relationship is with him. [00:08:09] And Colossians, chapter three, verse 23 to 25. [00:08:14] And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. Knowing that the Lord. [00:08:23] Excuse me. Knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he. [00:08:36] Excuse me, but he that death wrong, that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. And there is no respect of persons. [00:08:48] So when we do things, God doesn't respect us in terms of whether we are the father or the child. He doesn't respect us in terms of whether we're the master or the slave, the boss or the employee. Those types of things really have no real bearing upon his relationship with us. He loves all of us here, regardless. [00:09:13] He's doing everything he sent his son for all of us, for every sinner, and we're all sinners. [00:09:20] So when you walk this walk, live this life, recognize that God loves you, regardless. What he is trying to do is get you to a place where you recognize that you are a sinner. You recognize that there is a need for you to repent, and then you repent. And then once you have repented, you continue your relationship with him. [00:09:50] An encouragement for prayer. [00:09:54] Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. [00:10:07] That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. [00:10:15] Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity. [00:10:22] Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response forever. [00:10:32] That's Colossians chapter four, verse two through six. Out of the new living translation. [00:10:41] You know, the. [00:10:46] The relationship, which is what we speak about here quite extensively, really a conversation. You know, you have friends, you have family, some people that you know in passing, some people that you know very well. And the only reason that you know them very well is because you communicate with them. You know, the more that you communicate with a person, the more that they know you, the more that you know them, the closer you become as people, as individuals. This is the same thing that is true in our relationship with God. The more we speak to him, the more we will understand him, because the relationship is not about him coming to us and understanding us. He knows exactly who we are and exactly who we would be and every choice that we would make long before he created us. [00:11:49] So the real thrust of the relationship is for us to get a better understanding of him. [00:11:57] The wisdom that he has for us, the understanding, the knowledge that he has for us in order for us to live this life and escape the second death, because that's what it's really about. [00:12:12] You know, this life, as we, we often hear, is temporary. We're just passing through. And all of that is true. [00:12:20] It's the next life, the one that we live with him, that is the one that is most important. [00:12:29] So now let's talk a little bit about the workers who are successful. [00:12:34] So if you've ever defined success in your life, a lot of people define it based upon how many people they know, how many networks they're in, how much money they have, how big their house is, or how expensive their car is, or the way that they walk, the way they carry themselves, how they're greeted. If they walk into a room full of people, do they have communication with other people? Are they ignored all the time, so forth and so on, all of these different things we define as success. [00:13:13] So these next pages are taken from Charles Spurgeon. [00:13:24] How is it likely, says one, that we can hope to make an impression upon the present age? [00:13:36] What means have we but the simple gospel of Jesus Christ? [00:13:42] We are certainly not among the wealthy, and we count not amongst us the great ones of the land. [00:13:49] Our membership has always been and still is among the poor. [00:13:55] How shall we expect to tell. [00:14:01] Yes, how shall we expect to tell upon so huge a city as this, or to exert an influence upon so great a country? And above all, how shall we make any impression upon the population of the whole globe? [00:14:20] So how can you? Here you are, you know, wherever you are right now, you know, listening to this message, if you're here now, then you're not somewhere else, meaning that you're not handling some multimillion dollar business, you're not handling a whole group of people. You're sitting here listening. So in that situation, in the situation that is your life, how was it then that you are going to reach the world? [00:14:55] How is it then that you are going to be able to spread this message. This is a simple message. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a very simple message. It's not complicated. We make it complicated, and it has been made complicated for various reasons, mostly to generate a larger amount of money. [00:15:18] So how do we do that? What can be done? How can we say that we are successful christians? [00:15:36] We are weak, but we are not weaker than the first disciples of Christ. [00:15:44] Neither were they learned to, nor were they the wealthy of the earth. Fishermen, most of them, and by no means men of cultivated ability. Their tramp was that of a legion that went forth to conquer as well as to fight. And this word tramp means their style of living the way that they live, what they were called to do, so far. [00:16:08] So wherever they went and wielded the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, their enemies were put to confusion. [00:16:26] So here we are, much better off in terms of our ability to move around, to function, were much better off than the disciples were. You know, they went from one place to another. They basically walked. [00:16:46] You know, they went and they depended upon, you know, other people to. To house them, to feed them. [00:16:55] You know, if we're going to go to some other country to minister, then we sit down and we plan a trip. We save up the money to put in the bank so that when we go there, we have enough to eat. We can pay for a hotel space. We can pay. We can live with someone and give them money. [00:17:15] You know, we can take whatever clothing that we're going to take with us. And when they get dirty, we can clean them. You know, we can take a shower anytime we want, even in some of the poorest places, because we'll pay for it. [00:17:30] So. But the disciples, just to get their feet cleaned, they had to depend on someone somewhere. [00:17:38] So we are much better off. We have so much and so much of an easier time, yet. We complain and we whine and we cry. Oh, you know, for what? You know, look around and see what God has actually provided for you to do. [00:18:04] It is true they died in the conflict. [00:18:09] Some of them were slain by the sword, and others of them were rent asunder by wild beasts. But in all these things, they were more than conquerors through him that loved them. [00:18:26] Understand? So, oh, yeah, we're going to. As time goes on, it's obvious people are saying, what's going on now, right now, today, this war that's going on in the Middle east. Yeah. Okay. [00:18:40] As it goes, as it spreads, whether this particular war spreads, it may end today. [00:18:48] The effect of it is that we as christians will be impacted one way or another. Somehow or another. That's just the way that it is. As a Christian, we have to recognize that as the world continues to move towards the time when Jesus is coming, when the temple of God is going to be here on the earth, when sin is removed, that that process is going to have a negative impact on christians as they are alive. [00:19:21] So we go back to ephesians. Yes, you have to have the ability to stand. [00:19:27] You have to recognize why you are standing. What are you standing for and how do you stand? [00:19:35] We see so many christians around the world, especially in this country. They're preparing to fight a war that's not in here. [00:19:51] You know, our weapons are not carnal. [00:19:56] So if you don't want the adversary to come at you, you don't want to have this negative impact, then how do you avoid that? What do you do? [00:20:05] You don't buy, you know, the latest weapon, you know, a cache of hand grenades, put the word of God in you because there can come a time when the electronic devices are off, you get caught carrying a Bible, you're done. [00:20:34] And okay, fine, even as Paul said, oh, yeah, they're going to kill me, and I really want them to because then I'll be with goddess. [00:20:46] But at the same time, you still have work to do. [00:20:51] So as we go forward, it's not really about you. [00:20:56] That's what we're saying here, even at the beginning of this lesson, is that it's not really about you. It's about your prayer life. And who is it that you're praying for? [00:21:06] Because you want to pray for people not so that they are just saved, but so that they continue on in their salvation, so that they too will then be able to go out and help others. [00:21:21] That's what it's about. It's spreading the gospel. And spreading the gospel doesn't mean that you yourself have to speak to each and every individual person. But spreading the gospel means that you help as many other people as you can so that they too will speak to others. [00:21:47] The primitive church did well, oh, I'm sorry. I've already done that. [00:22:02] Oh, I'm sorry. The church did tell upon its age and left a seed behind which the whole earth could not destroy. And so shall we, by God's grace, if we are equal set, excuse me, if we are equally set upon it. [00:22:21] You know what this is telling us? [00:22:27] That, yes, there's going to be a great falling away. [00:22:32] Yes, a lot of people who are claiming to be Christian are not going to really be able to stand. They're going to fall. [00:22:43] But the word of God is going to endure forever. [00:22:48] So even though the little bit that we do now, this day or the next day or even months or years from now, however long we have left, whatever we do in our relationship with God, in our obedience to God, will cause the word to continue on. And this is what he's telling us. The reason why the word of God is going to live on forever is because his people are going to live forever. [00:23:19] It's not saying that at some point in time it is possible that God is going to die, and therefore the word of God, which is goddesse, is going to end. No, what he's telling us is that we will be able to continue living and being a part of the word of God. [00:23:35] So even as we get into eternity, we will still be speaking word. [00:23:42] We will be speaking to word which is going to really be great, equally resolved by any means and by all means, to spread abroad the saving of Jesus Christ's name. [00:24:03] Our weakness shall be our strength, for God shall make it to be the platform upon which the omnipotence of his grace shall be displayed. Keep together. [00:24:16] Keep close to Christ. [00:24:19] Close your ranks. [00:24:22] Heed the battle cry. Hold fast the faith. [00:24:26] Quit yourselves like men in the conflict, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. So as we go, our strength is God. [00:24:40] Yeah, we're going to get tired. We're going to get weak. We're going to be hungry. We're going to have to do without this, that and the other thing. Things continue to move forward. [00:24:54] But it's all right. [00:24:56] Don't close your eyes. Don't drift apart. That's the time when we need. We will need each other more and more. That's the time for us to glow, to grow closer together, to bolster each other. You know, we in church, in Bible study, we try to memorize as many verses as we can. [00:25:20] And some people I know have memorized whole chapters and can stand and recite an entire chapter. And in some religions, that's all that they do. They can recite their entire holy book. [00:25:33] We, for whatever reason, we don't, and it's because we really need each other. So as these things go, then, okay, I don't quite remember what is in Joel, but you do, and that's why we need each other. That's why it's a body. That's why it's one body. It's because we do, in fact, really need each other. Even especially in the times of crisis. [00:26:03] Only may the king himself lead us onward to the fray. And we shall not fear the result. [00:26:15] When we pray, and we pray to God with the name of Jesus, with the tongue of the Holy Spirit, then God will lead us. He will take us where we need to go. He will show us what we need to do. He will give us what we need to say. [00:26:43] And we don't have to worry about the result. [00:26:46] We don't have to fear the result. You talk to someone? [00:26:50] I spoke to someone. And they were of a mindset to accept, but were afraid to accept because of the consequences of if they did accept. You know, it's not so much that it would have been a problem for them as an individual, but it would have been a problem for them because of all of the people that are around them who maybe would have done some horrible thing to them. [00:27:23] So we must pray, preach, and teach the same gospel of Christ Jesus, his testimony. [00:27:34] Many denominations have made the gospel confusing by having their sanctuaries and schools crowded with teachers who believed, yet did not teach the gospel of the kingdom as jesus did. [00:27:50] Yes, they taught in the doctrines of being good and doing good to get to heaven, which is not the truth of the gospel. [00:28:04] The truth is Jesus and belief that he is the truth. [00:28:10] Believers will not experience the second death. [00:28:15] Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. [00:28:29] We dug into that pretty good in the revelations class. [00:28:38] The only thing that I really want to say about this paragraph here with this scripture from revelations, chapter 20, verse six, is that when we talk to people and we tell them, oh, yeah, if you just live your life and you live right, then you're going to make it to heaven, so forth and so on. Yeah, you won't be a liar, you won't be a murderer, you won't be an adulterer or whatever, but that's not what gets you into it. [00:29:11] Do you really believe in your heart that Jesus Christ did what he said he did? Do you believe that his gospel, his testimony, which is the entire Bible, but do you believe it from the beginning to the end? [00:29:26] That's what gets you in doing good will? [00:29:31] Possibly, because I really don't know for sure exactly what the criteria is for receiving a reward, but doing good does bring its reward. [00:29:44] And there are several crowns listed in the Bible, so you receive those based upon what you do. [00:29:51] Okay, but you can't do that thing and receive those rewards unless you believe. [00:29:58] So it's a circle. You have to believe in order to receive. [00:30:06] If you go into your mom's kitchen and sit at the table and you don't believe that it's good food and you probably won't receive any, it's just the way it is. We have to. When we pray for our food, we're praying that whatever the adversary has utilized in the food, we pray that God will overcome that. And that's the deal. As long as you pray, as long as you have your relationship with God, then yes, you're an overcomer. Yes, you can overcome through his strength, through his power. [00:30:43] So yet all this world. [00:30:46] Excuse me. Yet all this would not suffice unless we add, excuse me, I have to do this because I'm having troubles here this morning. [00:30:58] Yet all this would not suffice unless we had individual personal exertion. [00:31:05] According to Christ's law, every Christian is to be a minister in his own sphere. Every member of the church is to be active in spreading the faith, which was delivered not to the minister, but delivered to the saints, to every one of them, that they might maintain it and spread it according to the gift which the spirit has given them. [00:31:31] So, yeah, we're called to be. To be ministers. We're called to do certain things in the body of Christ, but yet it is, every member of the church is to be active in spreading. [00:31:49] So regardless as to what position you have in whatever organization you belong to, whatever church sanctuary you belong to, it is your personal responsibility to spread the gospel. Some churches don't even teach that, you know, some doctrines, some denominations don't teach that. [00:32:12] All they teach is that you are to go out and bring someone in, invite someone in, not minister the gospel to them, that they may have a heart to come in, but send them an invitation. [00:32:27] It's completely different. We could do that all day long. Just sit here and write invitation thing, get the mailing address of everyone here and send it out. Some people are going to come, out of curiosity, but without that personal contact, without talking to them, without being in front of them, you understand, without being able to pass on the heart the love of Jesus, it becomes an issue. People come and go. People come and go. So when they come in, you know, I'm not saying that you can't send out invitations, but what I'm saying is that when they come in, you have to be able to give them what they the real food, the real truth, because otherwise, shall I adventure a parable a certain band of men, like knights, had been exceedingly victorious in all their conflicts. They were men of valor and of indomitable courage. And they had carried everything before them and subdued province after province for their king. [00:33:40] So these were great warriors that went about conquering for their king. [00:33:46] But on a sudden, they said in the council chamber, we have at our head a most valiant warrior, one whose arm is stout enough to smite down 50 of his adversary. [00:34:01] But when they. What they're speaking about is that you have a sword, and it's pretty heavy, you know? And so when you go into battle and you're swinging the sword, you know, try standing and keeping your hands up, you know, for 30, 40, 40 minutes, they get heavy, you know, you struggle to keep them up. So think of it as swinging your sword for hours, you know, battling, you know, because it's not like in the tvs, wherever you're fighting one particular one on one with someone, and you're able to subdue them quickly, you know? No, it's more like a boxing match where it can go on for an extended period of time, because the person you're fighting is just as good with the sword as you are. [00:34:50] So it could take a long time. So for someone to be strong enough to subdue 50 men means that he has great strength in his arms, great stamina, the ability to endure. [00:35:11] Would it not be better if with a few such as he, to go out to the fight, the mere men at arms who make up the ordinary ranks were to stop at home? So, in other words, let's send, you know, our best warriors out. Let them go fight, and the rest of us, we can hang out at home. We don't have to be bothered. [00:35:39] We should be much more at ease. Our horses would not so often be covered with foam, nor armor be bruised on returning from the fray. And no doubt, great things would be done. [00:35:51] Now the foremost champion, with fear and trembling, undertook the task and went to the conflict. And they fought well. [00:36:00] No one could doubt it. To the best of their ability, they unhorsed their foe, and they did great exploits. [00:36:08] But still, from the very hour in which that scheme was planned and carried out, no city was taken, no province was conquered. And they met together and said, how is this? [00:36:23] How does this relate to us? [00:36:27] We here at salvation and faith? [00:36:33] And I think this is why this letter, this lesson is for us. [00:36:42] As we grew as a ministry and we, we developed, we had what we call spiritual warriors. [00:36:54] And we continue that same mindset that we have. There are people who have that gift who are gifted to fight in the spirit. And you can hear it when they pray, you know it. [00:37:13] But yet, based on what we're reading here, just because we have the warrior that can slay 50 men in one battle, or as we would say in the spirit, one can set 10,000 to flee, 1000 to flee, right. That doesn't mean that the rest of us can sit back and watch. [00:37:41] You know that. Yeah, it's great to have a number of spiritual warriors in your camp, but just because you have, you know, if you even look at the biblical story of Goliath, they relied on the one soldier because he was so big, he was so strong that he grew in arrogance. It didn't matter to him whether he was with God or not. [00:38:15] That's what can happen. That by not supporting and not being in the fight with your great warriors, you give them the opportunity to be taken by the adversary. [00:38:29] They become arrogant. They begin to believe that they can do it without you, when in fact, they are only a part of the hedge. They are not the hedge. And so we, we as the. The, uh, how did he put it here? The mere, the mere mortals, the mere mere fighters, you know, the ones that are in the back, the ones that don't really take on the, the major point of attack. [00:39:01] No, we can't sit back and relax. [00:39:05] Let them fight. [00:39:07] They can do it. No, we have to participate. We have to pray without ceasing ourselves. [00:39:15] So how is this? Our former prestige is forgotten. Our ranks are broken, our penny ins are trailed in the dust. What is the cause of it? [00:39:27] When out spoke the champion and said, of course it is so how did you think that some twelve or 15 of us could do the work of all the thousands? [00:39:38] When you all went to the fight and every man took his share, we dashed upon the foe like an avalanche and crushed him beneath our tramp. But now that you stay at home and put us but a handful to do all the work, how can you expect that great things should be done? So again, the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. And a lot of times the reason that the laborers are few is just because they just don't want to do the work. They don't want to do the task at hand. [00:40:10] So each man resolved to put on his helmet and his armor once again and go to the battle. And so victory returned. [00:40:19] We must not spare a single one, neither man nor woman, old nor young, rich nor poor. But you must each fight for the Lord Jesus according to your ability and that his kingdom may come and that his will may be done upon earth even as it is in heaven. [00:40:38] And these passages that weren't written by me were written by Ch. Spurgeon. [00:40:46] Amen. So I thank you all for listening. I hope that you understand that this is really a call to prayer. [00:40:54] If you know me, I like to end the year in prayer, and that's what we're doing. [00:41:00] The classes that we have going on, they're winding down. They're going to end in October. They'll meet once in November and once in December. The rest of the time, throughout most of November and December, we're going to be praying. [00:41:15] And then again in January, when we start classes afresh, one of the classes will be, you know, the five keys to prayer. And so we'll start the year in prayer. [00:41:27] And hopefully that by the time this year ends, we will be stronger warriors in January. [00:41:35] So thank you. Thank God. [00:41:39] Elder Barbara, did you have someone scheduled to pray out or should I? Okay. So, Father God, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this message of communication. We thank you for the clarity that it brings that we as individuals need to stand before you and fight. [00:42:01] We need to fight the good fight. We cannot be weary and faint. And Father God, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for your strength that will keep us, that will help us to stand even as those may fall away all around us. And Father God, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you speak to us in the daytime through your visions, Father God, that you speak to us in your still, small voice and even at night. Father God, that you would speak to us through dreams. Father. And in that, Father God, we ask, Father, in the name of Jesus, that we will have the ear to hear, that we will have the heart to receive, that we will choose life over death, that we will choose God over the Antichrist. [00:42:48] O Father God, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you pour out your spirit upon all flesh as your word has said. Oh Father God, in the name of Jesus, that we will receive it, Father, that we will walk in the fruits of love. [00:43:03] We will walk in the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We will walk in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. [00:43:10] Oh Father God, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you continue to cleanse us, Father God, that you continue to bring us to repentance. [00:43:19] Thank you. [00:43:21] Thank you, Father God, thank you for giving us the words, Father God, the commitment, Father God, that we can go out and put a you in into this vessel and that we can pour out upon another. [00:43:37] And Father God, in the name of Jesus, we say simply rejoice. He is coming soon. [00:43:45] In Jesus name, amen. Amen. [00:43:49] Amen.