Sunday Morning Worship Service

Just remain standing and we'll keep you uh very briefly as we turn to James chapter number four. I know you've been standing for a few moments, but James chapter number four. Going to read two verses there. It's great to be in the house of the Lord. We hope that you had a wonderful, wonderful weekend, holiday weekend. What a great crowd we have here today. I know we have some who are out of town, but uh we're so thankful for all that are here with us today and all of our guests that are gathered here today. As pastor said, we're praying for our students and all those who went overseas and we're excited to hear of the testimony uh that happened of all that the Lord did for them while they were in Poland. James chapter number four, we're going to read two verses, verses 13 and 14. And James wrote, "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow?" This is what I want to talk about today. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanishth away. What is your life? Is a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanishth away. I'm going to give you my title. It's not going to make sense until we begin. Confessions of an obit writer. Confessions of an obit writer. Would you put your Bibles or your devices down and would you just lift up your hands, lift up your heart, ask the Lord to speak to you or to speak to your neighbor today. Father, we're thankful for your presence that is here, the worship that has gone forth that has invited your presence into this room, Lord. And I pray now, Father, that you would anoint me, your servant, to help me to minister and to teach and to preach your word with your anointing, Lord. That we, your people, would be encouraged and inspired and refreshed today. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to see the frailty of time and help us to seize this moment. In Jesus' name we pray. And would everyone say, "Amen." Now, clap your hands before you're seated today. Amen. Then you can be seated. Confessions. Confessions of an obit writer before the internet. Does anybody remember those days? There's probably a few of you remember the days before the internet. Those of us who were there at the beginning and those who were there way before we had an internet, you might remember most homes, if not the majority of homes received a written printed newspaper. Anybody remember those days? Does anybody still get it? Like two or three of you. Okay. Nobody. Um a lot of people in this room, children, teenagers who were like, "What's a newspaper?" Well, uh, we had the we had the newspaper delivered to our house. Sunday mornings were the best. Sundays were the best. The funnies is what we called them. You might remember that. The funnies, the comics, they were they were in color. Uh, the sports page was my one of my favorite pages. It's for the before ESPN. All that stuff. Um, but there was an important part of the newspaper. I'm giving you a history lesson here today that I feel so old at this moment. I feel so old. I'm explaining to you something that you should know. Like you should know this, but you don't. There is something in the newspaper called an obituary. And the orbituary uh was the notification or the notice of a death of a person often with a biographical sketch. Uh some were shorter than others and some were longer. often obituaries which have been published in local newspapers uh as we do here. We read uh the orbituary at the beginning of a funeral. And for some who were still received the newspaper or who used to that was the very first thing that they would look for. They would look for the obituary to see who had died. Let me show you this cartoon here. This is a cartoon. Look at that bald head's terrible. Um this this is a cartoon from the New Yorker. It's uh it kind of explains what an obit would do when you would read it is because this is what you would do when you would read an obituary. It'd say two years younger than you, 12 years older than you, three years your junior, exactly your age, your age on the dot. Because basically what you're doing is you're reading the obit going, "How much time do I have left?" If they're dead, oh goodness, I'm not far behind. But of course, we don't have that anymore, so no one's even thinking about orbituaries, right? But I came across an article not long ago, and it was fascinating to me. It was an an an interview of obituary writers, most of them uh retiring or had retired from the New York Times. And what they said concerning orbituaries captivated me. And I want to share some of that with you. And this is what they say about obits. They say obits have very little to do with dying and everything to do with living. They are not written to give the details of how you died, but how you lived. You didn't hear me. They're not written to give the details of how you died, but instead written on how you lived. The obituary is about what you left behind and what influence and impact you made. An obit in the New York Times may be 800 to a thousand words and it will only give one or two sentences about how you died. 98% of the article is about how you lived. What did they do while they were alive? Obits and local newspapers are even shorter, but they all have the same information. If you look at a an obit in the newspaper, you'll find the date of birth, the date of death, the church they attended, the life you lived, and those in your family. And the obit has to write a summary of your life. Often they have to call family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors to get this information. So my question today is, what will they say about you? What will you be known for? That's the responsibility of the obit writer. They have to give some sort of account for your life. Not just how you died, but how you lived. And it's tragic. I remember seeing these. It's tragic when you read an obit and the only information is the notice of death and the place of burial. It's as if that person never even existed. And that's I'm afraid is what some of us are doing. We don't live, we exist. Jesus did not come to give you existence more abundantly. He came to give you life more abundantly. It's what you do with the life that he has given you. Scriptur is full of obituaries, maybe lives that could be summed up in one sentence or less. How about How about these? You might know these. How about Noah? Obeyed all that God commanded him. How about Job? A man blameless and upright who feared God and turned away from evil. Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness. Enoch, he walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. David, a man after God's own heart. How about Abner died as a fool would die? Jeroboam, the son of Nabbat, who made Israel to sin. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Jabz, he was more honorable than his brethren. The rich young ruler, he went away sorrowful because he had much riches. Judas, he went to his own place. Herod, he was eaten of worms. John, the disciple, whom Jesus loved. Deeus having loved this present world. Scripture gives a summary of a life lived. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God also consenters the inward life. It should be noted today that in this earthly life, you will be summed up by someone somewhere. Your family, your friends, your co-workers will likely have some say about your life. What will they say about you? No doubt Bill Clinton would like to be solely remembered as the governor of Arkansas and the president of the United States, but it'd be difficult to leave out Monica Lewinsky in his impeachment. Martha Stewart would simply like to be remembered as a influential homemaker, but it's impossible to omit her time spent in prison for trade fraud. It's important, please hear me today. It's important that your life here on earth not be lived with regrets, but instead be a living testimony of God's grace and goodness in your life. I want somebody to hear me today that your life needs to have a summary. Your life needs to have a summary of what you have done. Don't let it just be written of how you died, but let it be written of how you lived. Someone say, "Amen." Turn with me to Matthew 25 verses 14 through30. I'm not going to read all of it, but it's the parable of the tenants or the talents. A man is going on a journey. Called for his three servants. To one servant he gave five talents. To another servant he gave two talents. To another servant he gave one talent. Each one was given talents according to their ability. Then the master went away. He entrusted his servants with something that was his. He gave them talents to multiply. Now in the ancient near east talents was money but it was measured or weighed out. Each servant was weighed out talents according to their ability. The first servant was given five who immediately traded and made five talents more. The second servant who had been given two talents went and did the same and made two talents more. It is the last servant who is given one talent and scripture records that he went and dug in the ground and hid his talent. Now this talent this this this parable is not about money necessarily but it is about the stewardship of your life. It is about the stewardship of your life. You see your life is not your own. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own? For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Everyone in this room will give an account for your life. Yes, sir. The master will return and ask you what you did with what he gave you. Everyone will be weighed out in the balance. Have you multiplied your gift in life? What have you invested in? Because your life is going to be weighed out. And guess how it's weighed out? It's not weighed out in how much money you have in your bank account. It is weighed out in time. Time. And guess what? It's not even your time. It's the Lord's time. Have you multiplied what God has given you? Or have you hoarded it to yourself? Keeping what God has given you to yourself has an awful price tag. There's a cost to it. It's a cost to it. Wasting your life has a cost to it. First two servants multiply their talents. And the Lord told them this. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set over you much. Enter into the joy of your master. What the Lord is looking for is faithfulness. Faithfulness. A servant of what you've been given. A servant over what you have been given. It's like he has come and given you, I don't know, it was just say money, but to use it as as a as a picture. He's given you hundreds and hundreds or maybe thousands and thousands of dollars. And he comes back and says, "What did you do with it? What did you do with what I gave you?" But he's not just given us material things. He has given us the most important thing, and that is life. And he he's going to look at every one of us in this room. None of us are exempt. And he's going to ask us, "What did you do with what I gave you? Were you faithful over what I gave you? Did Were you a steward over what I gave you? And this is what I want us to look at this morning. I'm not going to be very long today, but I want you to notice something. This phrase sticks out to me. When he came to that third servant and he asked him, "What did you do with the one?" I just gave you one. All you had to do is produce one more. That's it. What did you do? They multiplied five and five. Got 10. Two. He got two more. Four. What? Just I gave you one. What did you do with the one? And this is what he says. His life could be summarized. His obit could be summarized this way. He says, "I was afraid." That's what he says. I was afraid. Verse 25 of chapter 25, that's his answer. When the Lord says, "What did you do with what I gave you?" I was afraid. There are too many people in our midst who have multiplied excuses but not multiplied their gift. They multiply the excuses of why they can't do fill in the blank. I was afraid people would make fun of me. I was afraid what people thought of me. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of embarrassing myself. I was afraid I didn't have enough talent. I was afraid I didn't have the right personality. I was afraid. I didn't have the right upbringing. I was afraid. I was afraid. I was afraid. You know what that is? You can multiply excuses when all he wants you to do is be faithful over what he has given you. He's not looking for excuses. [Applause] Well, I can't come down and worship. I'm afraid of what people will say about me. I I'm afraid I can't serve in that pos position. I'm afraid of what people might think about me. Let me tell you, it does not matter what people think. It matters what the Lord thinks. He wants to know. He wants to know what did you do with what I've given you. He did not save you to come and sit in a church pew. He did not save you just so you can call yourself Pentecostal. That's not the point. This is great. I love this. We are to do this. But this is not the end result here, folks. He is going to look at you and you cannot say, "I was afraid, so I just came and sat in a pew. I didn't serve. I didn't give. I didn't do this. I didn't minister. Why? I've given you something greater than money. I gave you salvation. And it's not for you to keep to yourself. [Applause] Privatized Christianity is foreign to the New Testament. The privatized Christianity that is propagated in the modern day church is alien to this Bible. You are not saved to be your own. You are not. This is not about well I'm just I'm keeping my my my faith to myself. Careful. Careful. You know what you're doing. That sounds like digging to me. That sounds like digging to me. digging a hole to hide what Jesus has done for you. Oh, I don't want anybody to think I'm weird or I'm strange. Peter said, "We are a pecular people. You're peculiar no matter what. So, you might as well put the shovel down and start multiplying your t. If you can't sing, get behind a camera. If you can't get behind a camera, get in a classroom somewhere. If you I was afraid. Afraid of what? I would fear God more than I fear what people think about me. How does God give people like so and so so many things? You know how he keeps giving people so many gifts? because so many people don't use them. How come he keeps using that? How how come that person had it seems like God just keeps showering talents upon them? You know why? They're multiplied. That's the point. When he came back and the five who had been the one who had had five and multiplied five more, guess what? He got more. You know how here's a recipe to blessing in your life? Multiply what you have. I want more. I want more. Fantastic. What are you doing with what you've got? This is not a message about money, but let me just hit on that idol for a second. See how quiet it got? I poked it. I wish God would just give me like a million dollars and I would tithe on that and then I would give to missions. And I'm going, "What are you doing with the thousand he gave you?" Oh, I can't do that. I've got bills and I've got I just wish God would just like, you know, give me like $10 million and you blow the 10 that you've got. See that idol right there? Y'all start protecting that idol. Here comes old Nate. Here he comes. I just wish God would just like bless me, man. Just like I just wish he would just open up doors. I wish I wish God would like, you know, open up some doors on my job. And you call in late. How many times a week? You see, multiplication begins when you're faithful over what you got. And so, if you're looking for a multiply blessing, you need to take inventory of what you got and say, "I'm going to multiply this. I know it's just one, but I can get another one. I I I don't have a whole lot, but I can multiply this." Come on, somebody. The blessing is in the faithfulness. The blessing is in the stewardship. Somebody give him praise right now. Where's Brother JD at? Brother JD came through the came through the offering line the other night, Wednesday night. Came by, he grabbed me. He said, "Brother Nate, since we've been giving faithfully to missions lately, I got a promotion on my job this week." You know what's happening there? It's called being faithful over what you've been given. And if you're faithful over a little, you will become a ruler over much. It's not just about money. It's about your time. It's about your ministry. It's about your life. And if you will be faithful over a little, you can become a Anybody ever have that happen? All of a sudden, it just shows up. You don't know where it comes from. You know why? It's called the blessing of multiplication. And the blessing of multiplication comes not when you get more, but when you learn how to steward what you've got. A feeling today. didn't come to talk about money, but when you talk about money, it's a spiritual principle. Someone say amen. Couple of you are with me. Listen to me now. Stewardship is not about maintenance. Stewardship is not about managing. Stewardship is about multiplying. Some of us are great at maintaining but not great at multiplying. Multiplying means stepping out in faith. Meaning I am going to invest in something. It's taking the seed and investing it into the soil and believing that I will get a harvest at another time. That is not being stingy. It's throwing it out there saying, "I believe it's going to multiply." This I'm hitting on something today and it's not in my notes, but I feel the Holy Ghost. Your hear me please and hear my hear my heart and hear my spirit. I'm not trying to be mean or crude or hurt your feelings, but our ministries are not our ministries. Territorialism shouldn't be in the church. Oh yeah. This is my ministry. This is what I do. Are you going to live eternally? Come on now. You know what we need to start doing? Multiplying. Investing in somebody. You know what? I'm I I'm not going to be able to do this forever. So, let me show you how to do this. There's going to be times when I'm not I'm not able to do this. So, [Applause] come on, somebody. I've always done this for 20 and 30 years. Fantastic. Who are you training? Who are you investing? Who are you bringing along saying, "Let me multip." I'm not going to live forever. I'm not going to preach forever. I can't. I There is a time when I will not be able to. So until then I will preach but I'm also going to invest in some people so they you know what we you know you are the product in this room of the apostles Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone who invested in 12 men who multiplied it on the day of Pentecost who multiplied it throughout the book of acts and you and I are here today because they believed not in maintaining and managing but in multiplying And if we will ever, God have mercy. If we will ever get rid of this territorialism where it's my ministry, my position, my title, brothers and sisters, you will not live forever. And so until then, why don't you teach somebody? Why don't you train somebody? Why don't you multiply? Come on. We need more technicians. We need more Sunday school teachers. We need more ushers and hospitality. We need more preachers and teachers. Let's multiply. [Applause] I'm in trouble today, aren't I? Talked about money and positions. Idols. Idols. That's what they are. Idols. It's what they are. I'm gonna hold on to this as long my position. I was afraid. I was afraid they might be better than me. My God have mercy. I hope these young guys are better than me at preaching than I am. I am doing them a disservice if I'm not teaching them and training them to do better than I don't I'm not afraid of them. My God have mercy. I grew up behind a drum kit. I grew up in church behind the drums. I I hate playing now. You know why? Because these kids are so good. And you know what? I rejoice in that. I am glad about that. Why? I want them to be a part of that. I want them to feel the glory of God. I want them to feel the anointing of God. I can't hoard it. I can't hold on to this is mine. This is mine. Get away. No. No. I'm not going to be afraid. When God raises up people who can do it better than I can, I'm going to rejoice. I'm going to be glad that we're multiplying. I wish somebody would give him some praise right now. I'm multiplying, not maintaining. I'm multiplying, not managing. I'm almost Sister Ashley. Come on. James said, "For what is life? It is a vapor that appearth for a little time. then vanishth away. Life is a vapor. It is here and then it is gone. Sounds like Ecclesiastes, doesn't it? Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What profit hath a man in all of his labor which he taketh under the son? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. The phrase vanity of vanity is used 36 times in Ecclesiastes. And the word vanity does not mean in our English excessive pride. No, it means wind, vapor, puff of smoke. That's what he's saying. That's what life is. That's all the material things of this life. It's all a puff of smoke. It's here for a moment and it's gone. Life is like that. I guarantee when you were 20, you thought you would never see 40. I guarantee when you turned 30, you thought 50 seems so far away. And the next thing you know, you woke up and you're like, I'm 50. It seems like yesterday I brought that little girl home from the hospital in 2015 and I wake up today and she's 10 years old and I'm going, we're six years from driving. Eight years, eight years to college and the first 10 went boom. That's life. You think those first 20 years are so slow and all of a sudden you get married and you have kids and it's into the fourth gear. Life is speeding along. You're just trying to catch up. That's life. 70s will be here. 60s will be here. Your 80s will be here. If the Lord wills is going to be here just like that. It's life. You think you're going to live forever. You're not going to live forever. Unfortunately, life is a vapor. He says it appearth and in the Greek it means to shine as to attract attention. Life might be full of show, glitter, noise, boasting, and activity, but it's over at some point. And I know we like to play numbers games at every birthday, don't we? We like to count our years at each birthday or not say how old we are. But this is what the Lord says in Psalm 90 and 12. Teach us to number not our years but our days. Our days are numbered. Every day, listen to me now. Every day you are marking off a day sooner to your death or until the Lord comes. But every day you're mark, you know, you can't save time. I'm going to save time by brushing my teeth and washing my hair at the same time. Got a I got a time hack. You know, I'm going to do this. I'm doing that. Guess what? Still time's still ticking. You see, you don't save time, you invest time. You didn't You didn't hear me. You don't save time, you invest time. So, let me ask you, where are you investing your life? Where are you investing your life? Remember, obits are not about your death, but about your life. If you want your life to count, you don't have to have a high IQ. You don't have to have a a large checking account. You don't have to have good looks or riches. Uh you don't have to come from a fine family or a fine school. You just need to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, glorious things and be set on fire by them. That's what you need. Everybody wants their room. Everybody in this room wants their life to make a difference. Everybody does. But I don't get to make that choice for you. You make it for yourself. But what a tragedy it is to take this one life and waste it. Would you stand to your feet? [Music] You know, some of us live like a video game. Some of us live like a video game. We act like there's going to be another opportunity after this one. Like I got two lives left. So if I'm just going to waste this one and see what I can do with the other. No, you got one. This is it. There there's there's no pre-show. There's no practice round. There's no mulligan. This is it. No redo. Th this. You got one. And it's tragic to waste your life with trivial things. I'm closing with this. Several years ago, there was a story out of Minnesota. Two ladies from a church there in Minnesota, one named Ruby and the other Laura. And they had both been killed in Cameroon. Ruby was over 80 years old, single all her life. Yet she poured it out for one great thing, to make Jesus known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick in Cameroon. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby Side in Cameroon. They were in the twilight of their life, serving the poor and the sick for the mission of Christ. While they were in Cameroon one day, the brakes gave way in their vehicle and over a cliff they went and they were killed instantly. Many in the in the community where they were from in Minnesota thought, "What a tragedy. What a tragedy. What a waste." No, there's no tragedy there. There's no waste there. Two lives driven by one great vision spent in service to the poor of Cameroon for the glory of Jesus. Two decades after all of their American counterparts have retired to throw their lives away and retirement cities and states near the beach. No, there's no tragedy here. It's called glory. [Music] John Piper in his book, Don't Waste Your Life, he tells of a tragedy. He tells of a story in Reader Digest magazine. I'm quoting newspapers in Reader Digest today. What a day. [Music] This is from Reader Digest. This is what a tragedy is according to John Piper. Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast 5 years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30foot boat playing tennis and collecting seashells. That's tragedy. [Music] Don't waste your life. Don't buy into the American nightmare of drowning yourself in debt to keep up with people who have no care about you. They got their own issues. Don't buy into the the American nightmare that you're just supposed to live in comfort. and have nothing wrong in your life and do the safe things. Do the things that'll keep you comfortable and keep you cool and just have a nice little retirement and uh you know if you live your life any old way that you want and you can have a uh you know a bed a deathbed conversion. Brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as a deathbed conversion. [Music] You could die tomorrow. Why are you talking this way, Brother Nate? I don't want you to waste your life. Don't wait for some great light to come from heaven. Do this. Do that. No. You know, you know what you're supposed to do. He gave you the talent. He gave you the ability. And one of these days he's going to come back and ask you, "What did you do with what I gave you?" Well, I was afraid. I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow. That's what he says in Matthew 25. Notice that he reaps not where he sws. He reaps where we sow. God is looking for a harvest in Knoxville, Tennessee. God is looking for a harvest in East Tennessee and Knoxville, Tennessee and Middle Tennessee. He's looking for a harvest. And guess where the harvest is going to come from? Where you sow. So, where are you sewing today? Where are you sewing your talents and your abilities? Where are you sewing your time? Where are you sewing your life? Would you lift up your hands right now? I know this is a heavy message. I know it is. I'm I'm not apologizing for it, but I want somebody to realize that this is real life stuff. This is eternal stuff that we've got one life to live. That we are giving He has given us the abilities to make and multiply for his kingdom. And I wonder if somebody said, "You know what I need to do today? I need to make sure that I'm spending my life, spending my time in a way that's glorifying God. that I'm not just pursuing the American dream, but I'm pursuing the biblical mission to make disciples of all men. And it begins in my home. It begins in my family. That's where it begins. And from there, I begin to multiply beyond that. I wonder if somebody today would be bold enough to come to an altar that you're not going to make an excuse. You're not going to say, "I was afraid and I was fearful and I was timid. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not today. I'm not going to be afraid today. I'm throwing that out the window. I'm not just going to maintain and manage. I'm going to multiply. I want to be faithful over a little so I can be a ruler over much. The blessing and multiplication comes when I begin to be faithful over what I've been given. It's one life to live. It's your time. It's your talent. It's your giftings. It's your ability. And he wants to multiply that today. Would you lift up your hands as they began to sing? I want you to lift up your heart and say, "Lord, I want to be everything called me to be that you call me to be." I say yes, Lord. I desire [Music] passionately is to be what you call me to be. That I will be what you call me to be. I say yes Lord I agree. My desire [Music] passion is to be what you call me to be. I will be I will be what you call me to be. [Music] I say yes. [Music] I agree. My desire passion is to be what you call me to be. I will be. I will be what you call me to be. I say yes. I say yes Lord. I agree. Lord I agree. My desire passionately is to be what you call me to be. And that's what I'll be. I say yes. Yes, I agree. I say yes. Yes. I agree. Yes to your will and yes to your will. Lord, I say yes. Yes. I agree. I say yes. Yes. I agree. [Music] And I will be what you call me to be. I say yes. Lord I agree. I desire passionately is to be what you call me to be and that's what I'll be. Could we love Jesus right now? Could you love him? And if you really love him, would you say yes to his call today? Whatever his call for your life is, can you say yes? Lord, I'll do what you call me to do. I'll be what you call me to be. Lord, you've equipped me. Lord, you've given me the opportunity. Now, Lord, I step through that door and take advantage of what you've privileged me to do in your kingdom. I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. Now, could we give a hand clap of praise saying, "Lord, I thank you for your word of revelation today."