If you'd like to stand, I'll read a few verses in John chapter 12, beginning in verse number 20. The Bible said, and there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of the set of Galilee, and desired him saying, sirs, or sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. I'm interested particularly in verse 26. And I'd like to preach a while tonight on the theme of serving the Lord. When the Lord was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, Our Lord's response in Luke chapter four verse eight, he said, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Worship always precedes service. And so I'm interested in that thought tonight. Would you bow with us for prayer? Heavenly Father, we love you. We thank you for this good church and thank you for its testimony, its outreach. Thank you for the pastor. Dear Lord, thank you for his friendship We're grateful for what you've wrought in days gone by, and folks have been saved, and lives has been salvaged for the glory of the Lord, and we give you praise. And I pray, dear Lord, that you'd whet our spiritual appetite tonight, help us to desire to be everything you want us to be. We pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen and amen. The Bible said there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He's the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. He had a three-fold responsibility. His responsibility was to clear the way, to prepare the way, and to get out of the way. That was his responsibility. We got too much of us showing, but I'll remind you tonight that we are what we are by the grace of God, and it's a privilege to be a part of the family of God, And it's a special blessing to be called of God to be in the ministry. I'm grateful for that call. Now, can I say, if you're gonna serve God, it will be a personal choice that you make. It was Joshua said, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That ought to be our goal. That ought to be our motto. As for me and my house, we're gonna serve God. There's a vast difference between salvation in the Lord and serving the Lord. We know that salvation brings us into the family of God, but service is what we choose. By the way, God does not force himself upon anyone. No one has been made to repent, and no one has been forced to go to heaven. That's choices that we make. And so I'm reminded tonight that you can't be saved without making a choice. It's a matter of turning from our sin, turning to God from our sin. It's a choice that we make. And so we can be just as spiritual as we want to be. And truth is, we can be just as close to God as we want to be. Don't blame somebody else for your backslidden condition. I'm saying God help us realize we're personally accountable to our God. No one was made to go to heaven, and when we're saved, we desire to be saved. You know why I gotta say it? I wanted to be saved. You know who gave the won't to? God. God put the won't to in my heart And listen, I came and he saved my soul, changed my life, placed me into his family, amen. I got born again over 63 years ago. Then I tell you it's holy and all right tonight. I'm not climbing up the rough side of the mountain. I'm not trying to make it some way. I know the way, Jesus Christ is son of God. And so it comes back to choice. I remember those days when God would begin dealing in my heart. about his will for my life and I was stirred and I'd hear my preacher preach and my heart would burn and I'd say to myself, wouldn't dare say it to anybody else. I said, boy, I'd love to be able to do that someday. And God put the desire in my heart Listen, I believe God does a calling, but he puts a desire in our heart also. So we understand when we're saved, we desire to be saved, and the same goes for serving. If we're going to, listen, we serve him because we love him, and God doesn't force us. He doesn't lash out upon us, and I'm reminded that our God is not a hard taskmaster. There are some conditions, this is introductory. There are some conditions to be met in serving the Lord. First on our part, there must be a choice for service. Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve two masters. You can't be a fence straddler. That's dangerous. We got too many people today that are preaching out of imaginations. And listen, I don't need to borrow your imagination. I have the word of God. And there's a preacher today that that are using other so-called Bibles, that's not Bibles. Now, we've been called of God to preach the Word. We can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and mammon. He's either the Lord of your life or you haven't bowed in submission. And notice with me, if we're gonna be a good servant of the Lord, we must have a clean heart for service. Notice with me, if you would, please, the book of First Chronicles. And let's look at First Chronicles. Let's see if I can find First Chronicles in my Bible here. First Chronicles chapter number 28. First Chronicles 28 and let's look at First Chronicles 28 and verse number 13. No, let me get it straight here, I'll get it in a minute. First Chronicles 28 and verse number 9. Here's what the Bible said. He said in thou and thou Solomon my son Know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and Understands all the imaginations of the thoughts if thou seek him he will be found in found of thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. And so we're to have a right heart about the matter of having a clean heart for service. And then notice again also, if we're gonna be the servant that God wants us to be, then we need to have complete confidence in the one that we serve. Paul said, nevertheless, the Lord stood by me. I'm reminded that Daniel made a great statement in the third chapter of the book of Daniel about his confidence in the Lord. And then there ought to be consideration, if we're gonna serve God, there ought to be consideration of the cost in service. If you're gonna serve God, it's gonna cost you. And so we're to count the costs. We're to realize that there's a cost involved, and then there's to be a complete turning from sin, 1 Thessalonians chapter one and verse number nine. And John 12, 26, he said, if any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. And by the way, what a thought. Our heavenly father is promised to honor those who honor him in service. And so we see the Savior's presence. Jesus said, where I am, there shall also my servant shall be. That's a personal promise that God made to us. Hebrews chapter 13, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And so these truths were evident in the lives of those who served him. back then as well as right now. He was with Moses in the wilderness. He was with Joshua in the time of conflict and war. He's with Elijah's servants in the time of weakness. He's with David when the wild animals attack. He's with Mary and Martha in their time of sorrow, their weeping. He's with the disciples on the Sea of Galilee and when they were threatened, their lives were threatened. He's with the early church when the world opposed them, and Paul was in the shipwreck on sea. John was on the wasteland of Patmos. I say to you, he will be with his servants wherever he sends them, and listen, he will be with us. I'm grateful God, could I say again? It's not a solo. It's a duet, it's Jesus and you. It's a matter of recognizing thy and I'm to represent here. He left me here to be a servant. Amen? Titles don't mean anything, I'm saying, but he left us here to be servants for the Lord Jesus Christ. And the choices have to be, so how does he do that? He said, I'm gonna, he that honoreth me, I will honor. So I wanna pull that thought out and say this, God will honor those who faithfully serve him. He didn't say anything about how being successful, he said, serve me. By the way, if you're serving him, you've been successful. And so, how does he do that? First of all, could I say, by his faithfulness to reveal his will to us. He reveals his way to those who walk in the light and in his love and in his liberty. The light of the scriptures and the love of his son and the liberty of the spirit, whether it's young or old, this is a question that's asked more often, more frequently probably than any other question that's said, how can I know the will of God for my life? God doesn't call everybody to be a preacher. God doesn't call everybody to be an evangelist. God didn't call everyone to be a missionary on the foreign field, but God called all of us to be servants. We're to serve him because we love him. And recognize the fact that it's not so much our love for him as his love for us. That love has been, we've been constrained by that love that was shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit. And so again, I know the will of God. I know God's will for my life because he revealed that to me. It is God who designs a plan for my life. and it is God who discloses that plan to me. And so when I'm doing what God has left me here to do, I need not hang my head in shame. I need not compare what God's given me to do with what God's given somebody else to do. It's a blessed choice to make a decision saying, I'm going determined to do what God said. And so, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Greenville is still without a pastor. And my friend had been there and had preached for them. and it looked as though everything was gelling together and he would be the next pastor. And so he sent me a text early last week and he said, I hope I didn't disappoint you, but I said, God has revealed to me that the place I'm to be is where I am. And so I'm withdrawing, I'm taking my name out. Now, once a person has gone that far and dealt with a pulpit committee and a church and then the magnitude of it all, It was, and so I texted back, I said, disappointed, no. Surprised, yes. But I was surprised. But God has a plan for my friend, and he's doing effective work in the church where he is. If the Lord is calling you for some certain ministry, he will, without a doubt, give you a desire born of God to do that will. And so it's not the size of the ministry. It's the place that God wants to be. So the desire will not go away. I remember, I remember, listen, it just intensified again and again. And I'm sitting there and I am involved. I'm teaching Sunday school, teaching the meanest class in the Sunday school, seventh grade boys. But I wanna say to you today, there's been a fellow on the mission field for years that was in that class. And so you never know what God's doing. We'll do what we do for the glory of the Lord. It'll be burning like a fire. You wake up at night, it's there. You get up in the morning, it's there. This is what God wants me to do, and the Lord is making that known to us. And so the love of Christ constrains us, 2 Corinthians 5, 14. And so he does what? He reveals his direction for our lives. GPSes are not always right, but God is always right. And so he does this by directly speaking to us through the scriptures, through the word of God. He speaks to us through the word of God as he did to Jeremiah, as he did back in the book of Ezekiel, as he did for the apostle Paul. And God will not only honor you by revealing his will, but God will honor you by revealing his word. It does this. Remember the Bible said, 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, for the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness of it. Neither can he know them, because their spiritual discern. And so that person is incapable of receiving the Word of God. He's blinded without God. He's insensitive. He thinks the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that believe. And he's ignorant of God's Word. And when our lives are dedicated to serve the Lord, Our lives is dedicated to serve the Lord. We have the promise of Christ concerning his word. His word, he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave to me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them out of a father's hand. I am a father of one. And so we're the sheep of his pasture, but we're the service in the field. Amen? Remember who you are, sinners saved by grace, the mercy of God, and the matter of demonstration of God calling you, placing you in a position to serve him. So he said, I'm not called to go to the mission field. Well, you don't need to go, for God hasn't called you. And I'm not called to preach. Well, you don't need to preach, for God hasn't called you. I'm saying God will put that in your heart, and confirm that in your heart, and through the word of God. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I'm saying to you, thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and the word will bring us to spiritual maturity. And we will not be making as many mistakes when we make choices, but you have choices you make every day. And some of them will honor God and some of them won't. And notice with me again, the wonders of our God. He reveals himself in his wonders. The Bible said in Psalm 19 verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. I'm reminded in John's gospel chapter one verse three, he said that all things are made by him or without him was not anything made that was made. And so he's revealing the wonders of God, the provisions that he provides for us. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And so again, the provisions that he provides and the power of his presence. I'm saying it's wonderful to be a child of God and it's a blessing to be a servant of the Lord. Paul talks about being separated from his mother's womb and God called him and placed him in the ministry. so he does it by the power of his presence he's revealing himself by the power of his presence in our witness uh... and by the way there's no way that we can defeat the devil i hear people that talk about commanding the devil but you better be careful you better be careful you don't have any power of your own there was a fellow in my home church that said that he was going to run the devil out the pastor had invited him to preach a meeting and he came He said, well, the devil's come to church tonight, so I'm gonna run him out. And so he started up here and went all the way down the aisle, all the way around the building, come back up on the other side, and he's commanding the devil all the way around. And so Dr. Wells called me on my way home, and he said, well, what'd you think of the service tonight? I said, well, I'm a little suspicious of folks who are on speaking terms with the devil. And he said, that's kind of the way I felt about it, too. You don't have any power over the devil. but greater is he that's within us than he that is in the world. And so I plead the blood of Christ and God covers my head in the day of battle. And so I'm reminded of this, that his saints, he has promised, I will come to thee, I will not leave thee. And Jeremiah 33, he said, calling me, I will answer thee, show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not. I believe the Spirit of God is so grieved in the average church today that there's very little outward response at all because we grieve the Spirit of God. And until we get back to the place of where we adjust our life to the Word of God, we'll never know the power of God. Notice with me what it says over here in the 16th chapter, excuse me, the 14th chapter of John. The Bible said, he's speaking of the Holy Spirit and he said, if you love me, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray the father and he will give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever Even a spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not seeth him not neither knoweth him but you know him and Afraid what if with you and shall be in you and I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you yet a little while and I and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will, here's the word, manifest myself unto him. Could I say to you, that's what I've been praying daily, that God would manifest himself to me, show me thy glory. I'm asking God to do that. And so I'm saying this, God honors us by his faithfulness, and we honor him by obeying his commands. He sends us into the field to reap the harvest. Say not ye there yet four months, and then come at the harvest. But I say unto thee, lift up your eyes and look upon the fields, for they're white already to harvest. The problem tonight is not with the harvest, the problem is with the reapers. And so he said, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest field. And so the word of God said, pray that God would send forth laborers. And then in Luke chapter 16, the rich man in hell said, talking to Abraham, said, would you send someone? He's a wicked man, but he's crying, would you send someone to my father's house? When Isaiah was washed in Isaiah chapter six, he said, hear my Lord, would you send me? The wash said, send me. Those who are right with God are willing for God to place them anywhere he chooses. Amen. And so be reminded again, I'm saying God is revealing his will, his word to us, and he does it by providing for us and directing our steps. And so then the Bema Seat of Judgment's coming. After the rapture, there's a judgment seat of Christ. It will not be a Sunday school picnic. It will be a time of sobering. It'll be a time when rewards are given out. And that would be an honor to hear the Savior say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. There'll be rewards, there'll be crowns that'll be extended, but there'll be some people that'll have remorse in their heart because of a misspent life, and they failed to do what God left them here to do. Had he not have something for us to do, we'd have been better off, and he would have been better off, the cause of Christ would have been better off if he'd just take us home to glory when we got saved. But he left us here for a purpose, and our purpose is to glorify him. Our purpose is to do the will of the Father. The judgment seat of Christ, will many be honored for faithful service to the Lord. And listen, however, many will be filled with remorse because of the wasted life, a life that's misspent in the service of Christ. Two weeks ago, well, three weeks ago, I guess now, my older brother died. Uh, I recall back and when I got saved, I tried to witness to him and he kept saying, I want to get saved until I feel like I can live a Christian life. And I said, bud, if you're going to wait until you feel like you can live a Christian life, you'll miss seven because you can't do it. The Christian life is not you struggling and trying to Christian life as you yield into God and God lives his life through you. Well, so he got baptized by Pastor Dr. Buffington and led him to the Lord, and he was thrilled in church, and then Pastor Buffington resigned, and they called a new pastor, and there was some conflict, and so he moved to another church, and was there in that church and was involved, and he was a liberal giver, and they got to where they was leaning on him more than they should have about the finances, and he got offended and left church. He'd been out of church for years. Now, he's not right about being out of church. Now, the only thing I have is his testimony, and there was a change in his life, but he passed away three weeks ago yesterday. And I'm saying, at the judgment seat of Christ, we're not gonna just give an account of what we did do, we're gonna give an account of what we could do. And so that's a sobering thought to me. You understand that Because of a wasted life, a life that's misspent for Christ, there will be remorse. You'll suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ. That's not to determine whether you're going to heaven or not, that was determined at the cross. That's determined about what you did with Christ. And so the remarks of honor, he's going to say, well done to thy good and faithful servant who's been faithful in serving the Lord. It'll be worth all the heaviness, it'll be worth all the heartache, It'll be worth all the hard places, just being faithful to the Lord. All these saints that we encounter along the way home, it'll be worth it all. He will honor us further by presenting crowns, presenting crowns of reward. I say this, God honors us by his faithfulness to reveal. He sends us in the field to reap, and he does it also by promising that there'll be fruit that will remain. In John 15, 16, Jesus said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit that whatsoever you shall ask in my father's name, he may give it to you. I'm saying he sends us into the fields to reap, and he does that by promising us fruit that will remain. That's why Paul said, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So when the devil crawls up your arm and whispers in your ear and said, what you're doing amounts to nothing, and you're wasting your time. He's a liar and the father of it. If you give a cup of cold water in the name of a servant, God said there'll be a reward for that. And you'll be reminded today that God keeps accurate records. And so we're not doing what we're doing. As I said to my daughter today, we do not do what we do to try to please men. I'd like for them to be pleased, but my priority is I do what I do because I wanna please him. I've had folks say, well, because you're 81 years old, when are you gonna stop running up and down the road and when are you gonna start enjoying life? I said, you misunderstood. I'm not doing what I have to do. I'm doing what I want to do. And I pray, as long as God gives me breath and God allows me to function, I want to do what he's left me here to do to please him. And that comes in with service. I say, then there's a future where we'll rejoice. One day the trumpet will sound. Well, as God, it could be tonight. One day the trumpet will sound and our Savior will return for his own. And it's referred to as that blessed hope in Titus 2 and 13. There are crowns for faithful service. There's crowns for soul winners. There's crowns for suffering. There's crowns for separation. And that's a different message altogether. But I'm gonna say to you, those crowns is not given to men to strut around heaven to show off. Any crown that you might get will gladly lay at the feet of the one who gave his all for us upon an old rugged cross. And so I find this, it will be an honor by being a part of his personal reign. John talks about that in the book of Revelation chapter five. In Revelation chapter five, let's look at one verse of scripture. And in Revelation chapter number five, in verse number 10, here's the way the Bible reads. Revelation five, verse 10. And has made unto us our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. That's the part of future. And again, our prayer should be, our prayer should be, O God, our Father, Help us to abide in our calling of service. Help us to stay until you call us home. If any man, here's what Jesus said, if any man serve me, him will my father honor. There's a lot of honors that's given out in this life, but what an honor that would be to be able to lay some trophies at his feet, but I can't do it if I'm not doing what God has left me to do. I said so many times, when the rapture takes place, I want to have my hand on the plow, my eyes on the goal, singing, I've decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. There's no place for U-turns. No, no, no. We'll walk faithfully and live godly in this present evil world, and God will enable you to do that, but the choice is yours. You can choose to serve or you can choose to sit. And that's your choice. Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. Let's pray. Father, bless, I pray your word. Bless our pastor. Give us direction by the Holy Spirit. Help us to be good servants of the Lord. And may our lives count for thee and make an impression upon a lost and dying world. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.