Dedicated To The Men of God
Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
All Things Are Yours
Text:1 Cor 3:18-23
Introduction:
Think about all that is yours. Our Father is rich, he has
riches untold. We are rich beyond the ability of the
calculation of man. We may not have a great deal of money
in the bank, but still we are rich, because of what we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We can think of all that we have, but there is so much
that the unsaved person does not have. Lost men and women
do not have a thing they can really call their own.
Jeremiah said, after seeing the waywardness and the idolatry of Israel from the Lord, he recognized that his eyes affected his heart. When we see people, men, women, boys and girls, going down the broad road that leads to destruction, it should drive us to our knees to seek God, until revival fires burned in our midst.
LOST MEN TONIGHT THINK THE WORLD IS THEIRS. Hemastered
by the material things of this world, and he is in
bondage to all that he sees. The bright lights of the
world fascinate the lost man. Man is so decieved that he
thinks he is in control, but it is the allurement of this
world system of things, that controls his life. It has
taken over his thinking, his life and even his soul.
THE WORLD DOES NOT
BELONG TO A LOST MAN, HE IS ONLY A SLAVE.
The Bible tells us to separate ourselves from
the world. The world in the Bible refers to a system that
is headed up and directed by Satan himself. The reason
they took prayer out of schools and the Bible is not read
in schools, is because of the rule of Satan ruling in the
hearts of lost men, controlling to some degree our
educational system.
Why does the world fight an effort to get prayer back in the public schools? It is because a lost world is afraid of praying people. They ought to be alarmed about dope peddling and dope using young folks in the schools that they are about young people who want to pray. They are more afraid of boys and girls reading the Word of God in public schools, that they are about some boy and girls slipping off to some corner of the school building and committing adultery.
THE REASON IS THAT
OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM HAS SATAN BEHIND IT SEEKING TO
CONTROL IT. The systems of this world has so
enslaved and blinded the minds of many people to the
point they will not and cannot believe in Christ.
All things are ours, thank God for that, but what about
the lost world that is outside the church? When you were
unsaved, each day your life was vain and empty, because
you did not have Christ and spiritual wisdom and
spiritual possessions.
The man with out Christ is without God, and is DEAD. Dead in what? Dead in trespasses and sins. He is already under the condemnation of God.
THE HOLY GHOST
CONVINCES THE WORLD OF SIN. The Price and the
Power of this world is already judged.
A man might feel great physically, he may be climbing the
ladder of worldly success, but if he is lost he is dead,
doomed, depraved, and already under the same judgment
that Christ put Satan under. Their souls are doomed.
When folks are caught up in the pleasures and
fascinations of this day, they seemed to forget they will
once day face death. It is when the lost person lies
facing what we call death, they become frightened and
scared. At that point the devil strikes terror in the
hearts of those who are not saved. THE STING OF DEATH HAS
BEEN REMOVED TO THE BELIEVER. To the lost man, the
stinger has not been removed. When he dies, it will be
like stepping into a group of posionous snakes that
strike a person repeatedly. When the lost man dies, he
cannot look around his bedside at those standing there
and say to them, "I will see you in a better
country." No the sting of death’s sting will
bite until the heart and the mind is filled with terror
in regard to eternity.
Anyone who is lost needs
to know this life is not yours, death is not yours, life
is not yours, things present are not yours, or things to
come are not yours.
There is not one thin dime the lost man can lay claim to
in this world. You do not own your car, your home, the
money in the bank. When death comes up into the lost
man’s front yard, and comes into his living room or
bed room, to who then will his car, home, and money
belong to?
The Bible speaks of men’s hearts failing them for
fear because of the things that are coming upon the
earth. We are still faced with the possibility of nuclear
war and mass destruction. The world is in turmoil this
evening. Mens hearts will fail because of fear due to the
things that are coming upon this earth.
Drugs, drunkeness, and immorality are becoming more and
more prevalent in our society. The world is become like a
"pressure cooker" due to sin and is dreadful
effects. The only man will be able to survive in the
right way, is to put his faith in God. The reason lost
men run to the liquor store and the bar rooms, the reason
why they hunt up a dope peddler, the reason why they
shoot up the cocaine and smoke pot, is because they
cannot "cope" with life. It is more than they
can handle in themselves.
When you begin to envy what a lost person possesses, his
fancy cars, his fine home, his vast holdings of land, you
better keep in mind if he has not Jesus as Savior and
Lord, HE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Let the millionaire have
the million dollars, and his homes at the beach and the
mountains, all his stock and real estate holdings. Do not
be envious of the wicked!
Prov 23:17, says, "Let not thine heart envy sinners:
but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day
long."
"Envy" mens to want what he has. Really, he
wants what we have but is going about getting it in the
wrong way.
If you are saved, then you are the one that owns it all
through the Lord Jesus Christ. ALL THINGS ARE YOURS. Let
me say that again--ALL THINGS ARE YOURS. I do not think
you heard what I said--I said, ‘ALL THINGS ARE
YOURS. Better yet, it is not me saying it, but God saying
it, "ALL THINGS ARE YOURS."
What is ours as the redeemed, blood bought children of
God?
I. MINISTERS ARE YOURS
"Whether Paul, or Apollos or Cephas"
The church at Corinth was so childish and
immature, they stayed divided over human personalitites.
Some said, "I am following Paul", others,
" I am following Apollos", while others said,
"I am following Cephas. They were all good, godly
men, worthy of following. In fact Paul said one time
urged the people to follow him.
1 Cor 11:1 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am
of Christ."
1 Cor 4:16"Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers
of me."
When he would leave the local churches where he went to
help the people, he did not expect them to leave the
local church where God had put them to follow him. Their
first loyalty was not to the traveling Apostle Paul, but
to the church where the Lord had placed them. It was not
their business to leave the church where they belonged
and follow Paul. He meant for them to ‘FOLLOW HIS
EXAMPLE’ ---that being his godly, spirit filled
life. I loved the people that I pastored for 14 years but
I am no longer their pastor. Some followed me up the road
and rang my phone for a good while, but it dawned upon
them that I was no longer their pastor. I wanted them not
to follow me at that point, but to follow the doctrines
and principles that I had taught them.
Note:
There was even a "Jesus"group in the church.
They said, "We are following Jesus." Human
leaders were seen as useless to them, because they were
supposedly just ‘listening to Jesus.’ It is a
rough job to try to pastor a bunch of "spiritual
elites" who say that we do not need man, we do not
need a pastor, Jesus will tell us Himself everything we
need to know.
Ills
------
We are not to follow human spiritual leaders to the point
that the Jim Jones crowd did many years ago. They drank
cyanide because he told them to do so. As a result there
was a mass suicide and a tragic loss of life. He told
them to do something that is against the Word of
God--that being to take their own lives. God tells us
that we are not to kill. That not only means someone
else, but it also means ourselves. He told them to do
something that was against God’s perfect plan.
Preachers serve God first and foremost, but God calls
them to serve his people, that of course being the
church. We are called upon to reprove, rebuke, and exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. God calls his
minister to help His people, to encourage them to make it
through this land of tears and sorrows.
They were trying to figure out what minister they
belonged to, when in reality the ministers belonged to
them. They served the church. Instead of quarreling over
them, they were to use them and enjoy their ministry.
As your pastor, I am yours. Every visiting preacher that
comes through this pulpit to you--they are yours to help
you and to instruct you in the things of God. Every godly
minister of the gospel you hear on the radio, they are
yours. Church, I am yours. You are the Lord’s more
than you are mine, and I am here to help you.
Earthly spiritual leaders are given for the profit and
blessing of the people of God.
I.MINISTERS ARE YOURS
II. THE WORLD IS YOURS
It is generally thought that "the
world" belongs to the devil and His children. That
is not so. They say, "Satan is in control." He
merely has a short lease. The Bible says, "The meek
shall inherit the earth."
Note:
Abraham went through the land of the heathern and God
says, "Everywhere you put your feet, it is
yours." That means we can walk in any place of
business, upstanding or sordid, put our foot down with
authority and say, "This is mine."
Can you imagine what it would be like, if your walked
into the"Yesterdays" night club in Hickory,
stomped your foot down on the ground and said, "Stop
this foolishness now, because this is mine." You
would probably wind up in jail if you did not leave the
premises, but the truth of the matter is, "It is
mine." My Father owns it all, and since I am joint
heirs with Jesus, that makes everything mine.
Note:
Sometimes we get to thinking that this world with its
laws and events are against us, but they are not because
God is mine and that makes all around me my personal
property.
The world was made and is kept for the people of God.
Unbelievers have no right to the things they want to
cling to materially, because they are yours, as the
saints and family of God.
This world "world" here means the vast expanse
of things that are around us. It has reference to the
material world.
Note:
One of the most beautiful places in the scenery you can
view from the top of Grandfather Mountain. Drive up there
some time and look out at the other mountain peaks around
and look at the valleys scooped out between the
mountains, at the beautiful trees, bushes and flowers and
say within yourself, "This is mine."
Note:
If you ever go to Colorado and look out over the Grand
Canyone, you can rightfully say, "This is
mine." You might not have a deep in some courthouse
than says it is yours, but you do have the most important
writing there ever has and will be, and that is the Word
of God. The Bible says "It is mine."
Lost people in this world are short, very short lease
holders but we are what could be called,
"freeholders." Never forget, it is the
"Meek" that will inherit the earth. Don’t
let the devil trick you into forgetting that encouraging,
heart-warming fact!
MINISTERS ARE YOURS
THE WORLD IS YOURS
III. LIFE IS YOURS
Jesus said in Jn. 10:10 that He came that we,
"Might have life and have it more abundantly."
There is nothing "normal" about the life that
we have it Jesus. It is an "overflowing" and
"full" life.
Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Cor 3:3
"For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among
you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not
carnal, and walk as men?"
They lived like the ordinary men around them. Our life is
not a normal life but an extraordinary life, supernatural
life. It is ample, more than the ordinary, full to the
brim. You can possess a unique and an extraordinary life.
It is a life different than anything the world knows
anything about.
While they worry and fret, we can sing with joy in our
hearts.While the world groping in the dark, you can be in
God’s sunshine. While lost men wonder what they are
going to do in life, God can show you exactly what He
wants you to do in life.
So many people get disgusted with life they take their
own lives.Pressure gets heavy on many people, they take
their own lives.
If you look to Jesus, you can have life and have it more
abundantly. That is God’s remedy for those who
cannot face life.
KNOW WHO IS REALLY LIVING? Some dear old saint, that many
not have much materially, or may even be illiterate,
there is a peace in that child of God’s heart that
passes all human understanding.
Life is ours as the child of God. God puts all the pieces
of life together in a wonderful and beautiful way for the
people of God. If life is ours, then we do not have to
bow to carnal and fleshly living. We can live as
God’s chosen, peculiar people.
MINISTERS
WORLD
LIFE
IV. DEATH IS YOURS
What does he mean by that?
Some folks see death as a terrible monster lurking in the
shadows, a dreadful creature, ready to swallow them up at
any time and carry them across a black river called
death.
For the Christian, the one that knows God, it will be the
most blessed hour that we will ever experience, when you
leave this present life into the place called heaven,
even if it is by the way of death.
For the lost man, death will be a time of terror and
torture. For the Christian it will be a sweet time of
peace and tranquility like we have never known. I have
talked and hear those speak who have been there and know.
Ill
My pastor faced that time. Said years ago, got right down
to the river of death. Peace and calm like have never
known.
The Christian may have pain in death, but he or she will
have peace. For the sick Christian to die, means that all
the sudden he or she becomes well. Death is not a dead
end, but a passageway from here to there.
Death is just a changing of address. Now mine is Rt.2 Box
340 Marion, NC but one day I will have a new one on
Gloryland Boulevard in the glistening city of God.
Why be afraid of death Christian? It is yours.
MINISTERS ARE YOURS
THE WORLD IS YOURS
LIFE IS YOURS
DEATH IS YOURS
IV. THINGS PRESENT ARE YOURS
Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them
that are the called according to His purpose."
God moves in mysterious ways, but it is always for the
good and the furtherance of His people, the church.
V. THINGS TO COME ARE YOURS
Rapture--Resurrection- Judgment Seat- Marriage
Supper
Kingdom--New Jerusalem (new house over
there.)--Inheritance of the saints is ours.
INCORRUPTIBLE, UNDEFILED, FADETH NOT AWAY, RESERVED IN
HEAVEN FOR US.
The next thing on God’s time calender is the rapture
of the church. There will be a resurrection and a getting
out of the graves by the saints of God.
We are going up. Shout on way up, "Oh death, where
is thy sting!"
CONCLUSION:
THE BIBLE REMINDS US AGAIN:
"All things are yours." Are we poor or rich?
Poor as beggar but rich as a king.
All God has is secured through a relationship with Jesus
Christ.We are in Christ and Christ is in God’s. All
the Father has is the Son’s and all He has is ours,
because we are joint heirs with Christ. The unsaved has
‘NOTHING’ but the saved has ‘ALL
THINGS."
Sermon by Tom Walker- Pastor Zion Hill Baptist Church-
Marion, NC--USA
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Tom Walker