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THE WORK BEFORE US
1. Aim: To show that we have a great work to do and must be doing it now.
2. Ecclesiastes 9:10 NKJV “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” 3. People in the book of Genesis had a work to perform for God: a. Adam & Eve - care for Garden - till the soil c. Abraham - Sarah Joseph - = They all had a work to do ! 4. When it comes to work, Many are like the little boy that swallowed an egg. He was afraid to leave it, because it might hatch. But he was afraid to vomit, because it might 5. Many of us are afraid to do the work that God has for us. Afraid to sit back and do nothing. Afraid to do something because we might make a mistake. The Biggest mistake 6. We must get to work if we are going to get anything done. 7. Rom. 13:10-12 NKJV “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put 8. Here are some thoughts about the work before us: Discussion
I. WE MUST BE SCRIPTURALLY ORGANIZED
2. 6 Deacons were installed a few weeks later b. Today we will ordain two additional deacons 3. Want to continue to have qualified men working as Elders and Deacons 1. Program of Work - A Work for Every Member and Every Member Working 2. Everyone needs to be involved Our goal is 100 % participation 3. A working church is a happy growing church, that is what pleases God.
WE MUST HAVE A GOOD ATTITUDE
A. Col. 3:9-10 Put off the old man, put on the new man 1. “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image 2. The new man is the new mind, new attitudes like those of Christ.
3. Attitudes are in need of adjusting all our lives 4. Mt. 5:3-12 beatitudes = beautiful attitudes.
b. These attitudes make us more like Jesus B. We all need to delete bad attitudes -- We should put off.
1. We must not become self righteous
a. Thinking we are better than others -- that is an ungodly attitude b. Rm. 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of 2. We must not be selfish
a. Selfishness is the root of so many evils b. Phil. 2:4 “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the c. Children are not the only ones who are selfish.
d. A little boy passed a basket of apples to his playmate, who took the biggest one. The boy chided: “You selfish thing; I thought you would take the little 3. We must not be stubborn
a. Under the law of Moses stubbornness was punishable by death b. Deut. 21:18,19 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, c. Stubbornness springs from a refusal to recognize any authority but one's own will, and results in much strife and confusion.
d. Some are like the woman who said to her husband: “Well, all right, I'll admit I'm wrong, if you will admit that I am right.” 4. We must not have pride
a. Pride is one of the things hated by God - Pro. 6:16,17 b. Pride is related to many sins -- there is no place for Pride!! c. Pride is contrary to the spirit of Christ.
d. Some little boys scribbled this on their clubhouse: “Nobody act big. Nobody e. We must be humble if to heaven we go: High is the roof there; but the gate C. The Good Attitudes that we must develop include: put on 1. An attitude of submission to God's will
a. The great characters of the Bible are great because they learned submission b. Noah is one of the great characters of the Bible.
(1) Noah never questioned God as to whether or not something else would be “just as good” - He simply obeyed and did all that God asked him to do (2) Gen. 6:22 “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so c. We must have the same attitude of submission to God's will 2. An attitude of forgiveness
a. One of the most difficult attitudes to possess is that of forgiveness b. Vengeance and malice seem to be common to most of us c. Receiving forgiveness from God is conditioned upon our willingness to forgive others. Mt. 6:14,15 “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” 1. They determine how we serve the Master.
2. If we will fine tune our attitudes the work of the Lord will be increased and the joy of Christian living will be realized by all.
WE MUST BE UNITED
A. Eph. 4:3 “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” 4. Each doing his part, carrying his share of the load.
5. Synergism
a. “refers to the action of two different chemical substances acting together to create a greater effect than the sum of the actions produced by each b. The word Synergy comes from two Greek words (1) Erg = which means to Work And Syn = Together c. Geese flying in a “V” formation is an example of Synergism - (2) Each bird flies slightly above the bird in front of him, resulting in a (3) The birds take turns being in the front, falling back when they get tired.
(4) In this way, the geese can fly for a long time before they must stop for 6. 20 Mule Team Borax - illustrates the importance of Team Work a. Teams accomplish much more work than individuals working by themselves b. In 1855 the world series of Mule team competition was held in Chicago.
c. The winning team pulled 9,000 pounds and the second place team pulled a d. Someone suggested that they see what the two teams could do together. The result was 30,000 pounds, much more than the sum of their separate e. Not long after that a young foreman was working in a mine in Death Valley, California. He noticed that 12 mules could pull twice as much as 8 mules.
f. He kept experimenting and found that 20 mules was the most efficient combination. This is called Synergism.
g. Their product was Borax. So the 20 mule team became the symbol and brand name for this household cleaner called Twenty Mule Team Borax.
B. Eccl. 4:9-12 NKJV “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly 1. Two are better than one = talking about team work - synergism 2. Because they have a good reward [reward= compensation, worth] 3. Solomon is saying that when two or more work together for a common purpose thy will have a good return for their labor.
4. A threefold cord is not quickly broken - Untwist the cord, and the separate threads are easily "broken." - if a man have not only one, but two or more friends, he is so much the safer and the happier.
5. There is greater strength in unity than being alone.
6. Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” WE MUST TEACH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
A. Great commission is to every Christian 3. We are to take the gospel to our neighbors 4. This is one great work we have not done a. Not necessary - some do not believe the sinners are lost - II Thes. 1:7-9 b. Others are willing to let someone else do it for them - be judged individually 3. It's a matter of applying ourselves to the work 4. Find a prospect - teach them the truth - nurture and admonish them to become 5. We can do it! We must be busy in doing this great work.
6. Pro. 11:30b “He that winneth souls is wise.” C. Then we must follow the second part of the Great Commission: 1. “.teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 2. We must continue to teach and exhort and ground fellow Christians 3. We all need encouragement and help to endure the trials and afflictions of life.
4. Gal. 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” 5. 1 Thes. 5:14 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.” CONCLUSION
2. Don't be like the boy who swallowed the Egg. Afraid to leave it or afraid to vomit it.
3. Doing nothing is the biggest mistake of all. If we make mistakes, then learn from them 4. The People in the Bible who worked for God made some mistakes: d. Went on to preach the first sermon on Pentecost and to the Gentiles at Cornelius - 5. The biggest mistake is to do NOTHING !!! 6. Even if we make a mistake let us keep on going and do the best we can.
7. I Cor. 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in Sermon by Arthur Pigman - Sunday Morning Dec. 6, 2009Evans Church of Christ 515 Gibbs RoadEvans, Ga. 30809706-855-1249evanscoc@bellsouth.netwww.evansgachurchofchrist.org

Source: http://www.evansgachurchofchrist.org/sermons/2009/pdf/499.%20The%20Work%20Before%20Us%20Dec.%206,%202009.pdf