Discovering the Spirit-Filled Life VII, Tested By Fire

Alright, as soon as you get to your seat, I want you to get your Bibles and Bob Mason, one of our elders, has a word for you here. Okay, Bob. In Psalms 118, David talks to us about being surrounded and being encompassed by things and circumstances. He says, all the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. You see, that's what you did by coming up here. Yes. In the name of the Lord, you cut off the things that are around you. You cut off the circumstances. You know, we didn't know what the circumstances was or were. Were, past tense. But God knew, didn't He? And in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you cut them off. You cut them off. In His name and in His power and in His authority. Hallelujah. Amen. Are you ready for a five-minute message? Are the folks from the baptism back in, Jim? Mostly? Alright. Really, it's appropriate. I have to honor the commitments to the children and so on, so I'm just going to give you a synopsis tonight. 1 Corinthians 3, I want you to look there. We talked through this chapter last week. Are we ready? Yeah. Look at verse 10, would you please? Now, folks, we've just been through something. All of us have experienced it. In fact, you could say, and I think we have an overhead that says this, the 60s were the decade of experience. The charismatic experience, the Jesus people experience, and all the rest. The 70s were the decade of instruction. That's when cassette tapes came on the scene. Thank God for cassette tapes. I believe there's going to be a tape library in heaven for all the ones we've missed. The 80s have been a decade, really, of purification and prayer. There's been a real emphasis in the body of Christ of getting cleaned up, learning to pray, holiness being set apart. We're not quite there yet, but I believe that the 90s will be a decade of action. Action. I believe it's coming in a way that none of us are ready to even fathom yet, but I believe it because God's been working deep things in His church, and He's been rooting out. And I know that when judgment struck the household of God, it's because judgment was about to come and is about to come on the whole earth. And when that happens, it's going to be a time of action, a great time of harvesting. If you want to know why we're requiring ourselves to get disciplined about our stewardship, it's because we've got to be ready for a harvest that you can't contain in a little barn. But you need a lot of barns or big barns to harvest for God's glory. It says in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 10, look at it, By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise or expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is, let's say it, Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flames. And a day when we know that we've been saved by grace, through faith, not because of our religious tradition, our heritage, not because we were born in a particular church, or had Christian parents, but because God touched us, as we heard testimony tonight, there's a balancing truth that we need just to be reminded of this evening, that just the same way that you've been given a gift, you can know ways, and know wise, that is, work for your salvation, you must work it out. You are responsible before God to work out that which he's given you. And what I have come to discovery is that in America, we understand rewards all the way down the line when it comes to our workplace, and our careers, and athletics, and our job situations, we understand rewards. When it comes to the Bible, somehow, we don't understand rewards. And do you know that the Bible is very clear that the incentive for being involved in the work of the kingdom of God, as much as it sounds right to say, just love, and I just want to, you know, it is reward. Hello? You have a reward if. You have eternal life because. But you have a reward if. Eternal life is a gift. Eternal blessing is a reward. It's a wage. And I think it's time that some of us stopped earning the minimum wage of the kingdom of God. The Lord wants to start increasing the rates. And I really believe this, and I appreciate the amens, but I don't want it to get lost. Folks, it's very important that in this day, as we take a look, God has not done what he's doing at North Way Christian Community just so we can say, well, we had a great time. But he's looking for people who will respond to the grace that's upon this place in this hour. And who will begin to get in line with it and say, God, I want everything that you have for me. Now, let me just tell you the three points in my outline. Number one, there are people who do not build. They're the non-builders. They're the people who come and just hang out and don't do anything to build on their life. They have an experience with Christ. Make no mistake, my brother and my sister, there are many experiences to be had. But the non-builder doesn't see that once the foundation has been laid, which is who? Jesus Christ. Not North Way. Not any evangelist. It's Jesus Christ. Him alone. It's not Jay. Jay didn't lay the foundation or Scott or Grant. Jesus laid the foundation. But after the foundation is laid, there are many people who don't build upon it. Unfortunately, Scott keeps more records on this than I do, but I know we've had scores of people on Sunday mornings say yes to Christ here in our church. But they don't build on that life. Six months, a year later, they're back where they started. Have you ever seen a house that someone had a great intention, laid all the bricks down, all the cement block, and maybe even put some tar paper over the floor but never built anything up? It's pathetic. It wasn't meant to be that way. That's the way some of our Christian lives look. The second group of people are the foolish builders. The foolish builders are the ones who build with what? Let's take a look. What are they? Wood, hay, and straw. Now that's not talking, you know, please don't be so hung up on what those might mean symbolically as much as to say wood, hay, and straw are what? Perishable things. I understand from reading the paper several months ago that a new church in the area was building a building over Franklin Parkway on Brant School Road, and they laid the foundation down, and then they started building with wood. And what happened? A storm came, and boom, down it went. And I understand they've changed the building plans. We've prayed for them, and I understand. But that's what happens when you don't use the materials that God has intended. And I had a long outline here about wrong things to build with, folks. But it has to do with our motives. It has to do with the works that we get involved in. But please don't fall prey to the idea that just because you're a Christian and show up at church that you're building wisely. There's much more to it than that. Don't be a foolish builder. Don't be one who just fritters away your energies. If you're in your 20s right now, you are at a golden moment in your life to begin a lifelong investment. How many people here deal in insurance? Any insurance salesman? You can confess that. It's a reputable thing. Thank you, George. We've got one. Brother, you've got a great field here. I mean, you're the only one. Well, every insurance man will tell you the earlier you start making your investment, what? You don't buy any insurance. The earlier you start making your investment, the less expensive it is and the greater you are at the end. I mean, you're going to do much better. And so it is with the kingdom of God. Don't wait until you're 75 to start wondering how you're going to serve Jesus and what you're going to do about it. And I developed all these passages, but your motive is so important. Why you're doing what you do, if you're doing it just so someone says, boy, look at him up there singing on Sunday morning, that's not going to happen. If you're doing it just because you're trying to get people to feel better about you, the motive's got to be just sincere love. Once I read this story, a businessman was visiting Mother Teresa and watching her methodically with those sisters of mercy attend to the lepers and to the dying. And at one point she reached down and opened up the wounds of a man dying of leprosy and the businessman was just revulsed by it and backed off and he said, I wouldn't do that for a million dollars. She looked up at him and smiled and said, neither would I. You see, the motive's got to be the love of God and the desire to obey, setting your eyes on the heavenly Lord. The third kind of person is the wise builder. The wise builder, the one that's using what three items? Gold, silver, and precious stone. I don't know what those all really stand for. They have something to do, I'm positive, with faith because 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 7 says that our faith is tested by fire and it stands even though the gold would perish under fire, faith will stand. And I have an idea that somehow you can't be a wise builder without exercising faith. If you're not in a place where faith is necessary, you're not building wisely. You've got to be exercising faith. It has something to do with our conduct in terms of living pleasingly to God and what I talked about this past Sunday, about a passion for His people, our conduct toward one another. Are we self-serving? Are we willing to serve the interests of others? Are we setting out to honor another or are we setting out just to secure? That kind of thing. And it has to do with ministry. Are you a wise builder in that your ministry is because God has put you in a place where you know that He's called you there and you're functioning according to His gift? You know the Bible tells us, I have all kinds of scriptures I can't read tonight, but that Jesus tells us that you won't even listen. Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say you'll by no means lose your reward, but God won't even miss that. And that's building as a wise master builder. And so I say to the people that were baptized tonight and all of us who are walking after the Lord, I know there's not a person in the room tonight that really wants to be a non-builder. And I'm sure that most of us tonight would say, I don't want to be a foolish builder because what's going to test this, folks? What is it? Fire. The day. When the Bible talks about the day, it's talking about judgment day. Now you say, well, I thought I was saved by grace. Now I have a judgment day. If you're a new Christian, listen to this. Now there's a distinction. The Bible says that once you've come to Christ, you are no longer under the judgment. You've already passed from darkness into light. So the day will never come that you'll stand before God to answer for your sin. Say something good, all right? You'll never have to stand and give answer to your sin because you've died to all that and you've been raised in Christ. But the day will come when God will say, no, what did you do with your life? What did you do with it? Did you not build anything? Did you build foolishly and flippantly and chase this and chase that? Or did you build wisely? Were you faithful in little things? Were you willing to serve another? If you're a home group leader, it means that you really care for your people. You just don't go through the motions of calling them. If you're a mother, it means that you spend time with your kids to impart to them. You just don't, like, dispense your duty by dropping them off at church. Jesus gave us everything. We read here later on, all things are ours. The question I want to leave us with today is what are we going to do with this great gift? It's as though God's invested a huge treasure in us. Now, folks, I want to believe that every person in this room is going to say tonight, Jay, I want to build now. I want to build wisely with gold and silver and precious stones so when the fire comes, that's going to remain. You know what it's like. Have you ever gone into a place where there's a smoking section and a non-smoking section and you go in and you have to sit in the smoking section for some reason if you're... I mean, maybe there's low in seats or whatever. Maybe you're still a smoker. One of the grossest things I feel is when I come out of a place like that and go home at night and everything I have on smells. Ever had that? Anyone identifying with me here? That's the best description I can give you of what it's going to be like if we stand before the Lord and we've built with wood, hay, and straw. We're going to be saved. We're just going to have this funny smell. And I want to be able to enjoy eternity with a great, great reward. Don't you? And as a pastor, and I can speak for my other pastors and the elders of the church, our desire is that every one of you would get the maximum reward. That you'd be able to stand before God and just have crown after crown to throw at Jesus' feet. Now that sounds like a lot of spiritual talk, but to me, dear ones, it's simply obeying the Lord faithfully, building on the things that He's given to us. And how do you do that? Let me just leave you with this. You do it by doing the very simple things that are right in front of you. Saying, Lord, as the folks came up, Lord, what do you want me to do? And faithfully do it, and God will show you the next thing one step at a time. Let's stand together. We need to get ready to go. Lord, I pray that this message would not be lost in its brevity, but that we'd be able tonight to commit ourselves to build with precious things, Lord, with silver and gold and the precious stones, and that not one of us would lose the reward that You've already purposed to give to us, Father. Oh, thank You, Father. Lord, I have to admit to You tonight that I'm looking forward to the day when fire will come and when light will expose motives of the heart. I'm looking forward to that day, Lord. And I pray just thankfully tonight for everyone here that's giving it their best, that's doing what Paul said, running the race so as to not be disqualified, but to win the prize. Thank You for this opportunity tonight, Lord. And I pray again for all who were baptized. They would build on this foundation. Oh, Lord, they'd build in simple works of humility and service. They'd build, Lord, in faithful obedience to the gifts You've given them in Jesus' name. I want to ask You a question. Look up for just a moment, would You please? Before we dismiss tonight, I'm going to ask a very personal question. I know that tonight there are probably some people who came just to watch a friend be baptized. Maybe you've been here a few times. Maybe you've never been here before. We didn't even really officially welcome our visitors tonight. But as we have talked so clearly about an exchange of life, as we have talked tonight so clearly about accountability before God, I don't want to leave tonight's service without giving someone here an opportunity to say yes to the free gift of God, of eternal life through Jesus Christ. I believe tonight some of you know that you need that eternal life. You need that gift. And you're here. And in your heart you're saying, I know I need that. I want Christ. I need Him. You can receive Him right now. And I'm going to ask you to do this. Can we all bow our heads in prayer right this moment, please? Everyone in the room. And if tonight you're here and maybe you've come to a place where all the excuses don't matter and all the reasons why not no longer count, but you just know you want the Lord tonight, I'm going to agree with you that tonight would be your night of beginning a walk with Christ, a journey with Christ. Pray with me. If you know you need the Lord tonight, pray with me right now right where you're standing. Heavenly Father, just pray these words where you are. Heavenly Father, I know I need Jesus Christ in my life. Would you come into my heart? Forgive my sin, my selfishness. Take away my rebellion and my pride. I want to live for you tonight. And with every head bowed, I'm going to do something very powerful, please. Every head is bowed. If you prayed that prayer or something like that, that's the desire of your heart. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to agree with me all around the room. I'm going to ask you to lift your head in a moment and let our eyes meet. And I won't embarrass you, but I'll just agree right where you're standing at this moment. You're asking Christ. You're saying, I'm taking a step toward God tonight. Alright? Anyone like it, lift your head right now and let our eyes meet and I'll agree with you. Alright, I agree with you, sir. In Jesus' name, receive the love of God. He's your Savior. He loves you tonight. And you, ma'am, I agree with you in the back. God bless you. I agree with you. Tell somebody, would you? The two of you, tell someone. Go ahead. They'll understand. They've done the same thing. Go ahead, tell him. He'll understand. Others of you, look right at me right now. Wave your hand if I missed your eyes in the back, if I can't see you. Wave your hand up. Say, I need the Lord tonight. Is there anyone else here? Alright. I'm agreeing with you with your head raised back there. I agree with you, son. In Jesus' name. God sees your eyes and He sees your heart and He knows. Is there another right here tonight? Is there one more? I'm going to wait one more moment. Just wave your hand up. If I missed you, don't be embarrassed. This is an eternal moment with you and God. Yes, Lord. Church, let's just verbally thank God for these lives that have been touched tonight. Lord, we believe in miracles and we believe, God, that these are first steps for at least these three people tonight. First steps, Lord. I pray now and we agree in the name of Jesus Christ. Join a hand with someone, church. We agree for these three tonight that the Holy Spirit would begin to fill every hurting part of their hearts. Answer every deep question. And Lord, that over the next hours they'd encounter God in faith. They'd come to know Christ personally because of this moment right now, Lord, when You honor Your Word and come into their hearts. Do what I pray in Jesus' name and everyone said, Amen. Amen. And Amen. You can hold hands. It's alright. God, you let go of that. It's not going to hurt you. We need to go. It's a special moment when people come to Christ. Those of you who prayed with me, I know who you are. I'm a fast person from these steps. I'm going to ask you to come with the person you talked to and see me for just a moment over here by the screen. I just want to talk to you for a moment. If you, listen, if you know that this is what you need but you weren't ready tonight, that's okay. Keep on track. Keep on course. Keep seeking God because the Bible says, listen, He's a rewarder. of those who diligently seek Him. Now, Pastor Scott, we'd love you to be at prayer with him tomorrow, 6 a.m. And then, what am I forgetting? Yes, we've got several things. What? Yeah, we're not going to have time to take the offering tonight but the offering boxes will be cleared, ushers. If you'll clear those boxes, please. We always take these offerings, folks, on Wednesday nights. We don't miss it. If we forget, and the Lord's prompted you, these offerings go. And tonight's offering, by the way, last week, we gave $1,000 to Operation Rescue for saving babies. That was a great blessing. And tonight, we're giving the offering directly to the inner city churches that we're supporting in our mission effort and preparation for our banquet. So, if you have a burden for inner city churches, you can give tonight in a special way. I know there are lots of other things I could share but I'm just glad to be part of this church and be part of who you are in Christ. Give someone a big hug. Singles plus 30 meet this Friday night at 730. God bless you. You're dismissed.