# Created to Serve

Key Passage: Ephesians 2:8-10
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your mind, as if you would, to Ephesians chapter number two, please. Ephesians chapter number two of God’s Word. We are going to focus, at least for the next three Sundays counting today, on this matter of involvement. Today, the subject for our online ministry is “Created to Serve.”

That would be the title: “Created to Serve.” We will start out with a very familiar passage. I think a lot of you will have it memorized. But Ephesians 2 and verse number 8, Ephesians 2 and verse number 8 of God’s Word this morning. If you are there, would you say amen? If you are able, would you please stand just to show the Word of God respect? It deserves it, amen.

But Ephesians chapter number two, we will start in verse number eight of God’s Word. Ephesians 2 and verse number 8 of God’s Word. And God says, “For by grace are you saved through faith? And that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Let me just stop. Many of you know that. Can I just stop and say a word or two about that? “For by grace are you saved.” Many religions of the world will teach you, you have to do something to go to heaven. You must join their church. You must be a part of their program. You must have to do the sacraments. You must be baptized. You must be good enough in some former fashion.

But the Bible says, “For by grace.” Grace is you and I getting something we do not deserve. We often say, “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” If you go to heaven, you will not go to heaven by your goodness. You go to heaven by God’s grace. By the way, if you have to be good enough, are you good enough? None of us are.

If you are good enough, you would be perfect. Nobody is perfect. Even if you could be perfect from today on, you still have not been perfect in the past. And that has to be paid for. No, anybody that goes to heaven, you go to heaven by grace. God riches your earning heaven at Christ’s expense.

“For by grace are you saved.” What does it say there? “By faith,” or through faith, excuse me. You are putting your faith in what Christ did, not putting your faith in what you did. By the way, if I put my faith in the best I can do, the best you and I can do, it will fall short. I think the best we can do in comparison to God’s best is kind of like shining a flashlight and holding it up in comparison to the sun. Does that look pretty good compared to the sun? The best you or I can do, the best righteousness we can do, is just filthy rags in comparison to God’s righteousness.

No, I do not put my faith in what I did, or what I stopped doing, or how I turned over and who leave. I put my faith in what Christ did: the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Notice I said “finished.” It was finished. You do not add to it. Even if you are trying to do something to stay saved—no, friend, you can never add anything to your salvation. It is finished. You put your faith totally in Christ and alone in Christ, what He did on the cross.

“For by grace are you saved through faith.” And that not of yourself. It is a gift. You will learn a gift. It is given to you. A love God gives it to you. And then He says in verse number nine, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” It was something you did. Or I said, “I went to church for 30 years,” or “I gave up my heroin or my cracker.” You say, “Pastor, you did all that?” Well, no, I am joking. I do not do all that. But whatever may be, we all have our sins. But I gave up this, that, the other, and you would go to heaven? You would boast, “Well, I was a good guy.” No, no, it is not your works. You will not go to heaven and brag. We will go to heaven and say, “Jesus, thank you, You earned it all for me. All to You I owe. You even deserve my crowns.” You give it all to Him.

Now look at verse number 10, if you would, please. This is our text verse. I am sorry, can I say one more word? You say, “Why do you say, ‘Can I say?’” You know you are going to say it anyway. Trying to be nice about it, though, you know.

If you are not saved, if there has never come a time when you put all of your faith as far as getting to heaven—all of your faith, 100%—on Jesus to get you to heaven, today would be a great day to do it. It would be a great day to get saved. The Bible says you pass from death into life. Your destination, you were headed to hell to burn forever—never, never—now you are headed to heaven. What a change! You are born again. You are a child of God. Cannot be unborn. It is a done deal. You are His child. You are His son. You are His daughter forever. If you have never had that, today would be a great day to get that. Great day. We would love it. Everybody in this church would be thrilled about it. It would be a great day to get that.

Now verse number 10. We are going to go there. We are going to get there for sure. Then He says this: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

We are going to take some time this morning and just talk about some words out of this verse. We will stick right to that verse today, and we will try to pull some words out of that verse and just preach on that for a little bit. I think that is what God did go on.

Would you ask the Lord that He would speak to your heart about some of these words in this verse? Would you do that as I ask the same? Would you do? Let us pray together, please. Father Lord, we come and Lord, we so need You. It is foolish for me to think I can get the job done. Lord, You said in Your Word, “Vain is the help of man.” We need Your help. So Lord, we are using Your Word, and we ask for You to send Your Spirit. And Lord, would You do Your work through these sayings in a simple preacher, Lord? It is amazing how let us have a little part in Your work, but You do. Use that for today. And Father, we will brag on You. We will thank You and praise You for what You do. Lord, if one hears not say they have not had that time when they are changed from hell to heaven, their destination—Father, I pray that today they would make that decision and get saved. And, Father, would You give us a clear leading of what ways and how You want us to be involved in Your work in Jesus? And we pray, amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Now, I want you to notice this. Look back at that verse number 10, if you would, please. Just said some words there. Notice He says at the very beginning, “For we are…” What is the next word?

Oh, we can do better than that! Oh, my goodness. Wow. “For we are His…” Good. This side, Brother Anthony, he has volume. He has this side. Come on over here. Here we go. Here we go. “For we are…” There we go. We are His workmanship. God Almighty, He is the one that formed you physically, and we are talking to this verse here, really spiritually. He is the one that made and created and formed you.

You say, “Pastor, there is nothing really I can do for the Lord. I am just kind of an odd ball.” Friend, you are criticizing the handiwork of God Almighty. You are His workmanship. You are specially designed. You are unique. No one else like you. You can do something for God. You can serve Him.

I often say, like the orchestra. All of them out there playing, but they are playing just a little different tune. And just one of them is out of tune. And that guy out there, you know, especially when they are proxed, he will stop everything and say, “Hey, you over there.” If I was playing an instrument, it would be me too. Often you say, “You are off.” Your attitude. And God hears every person in the universe. You can worship Him. You can praise Him. You can love Him just a little different. No one else can love Him just quite like you. You are uniquely designed and made. You are His workmanship.

We are talking here a little bit about involvement days coming up. It may be that God does not lead you to be involved in one of these eleven ways. And that is fine. But every person here, even if there is no fed, “I am not supposed to be there,” God has made you.

I think of Ms. Ginny Fontaine. How many know Ms. Jeannie Fontaine? She was a part of our church for years and years, and she would be here this morning, probably watching online. She always likes for me to give her an okay sign. So would you kind of—the camera is right back there—would you just turn around and do that right there for Miss Jenny Fontaine? She will be watching. She will like that. That is just kind of her signal she wants us to use.

But if Miss Jenny could be here, she was not in the home down there in Tullahoma, she would be here. And she had a special way of walking. She would just walk around before and during handshaking times, before service, after, just talking and loving people. And she made everybody feel like they were important.

And sometimes I have seen her—now, ladies should be giving you a special hug. You know that, ladies? You remember that? Yeah, all your ladies are smiling. Yeah, I remember that. You are smiling big, you know, because she just had a special way of doing it. And there were times, I have even seen her to a man or two, I think, that she would grab your cheeks, you know, just like an old granny lady can touch. She would grab your cheeks. “It is so good to see you,” you know. And Brother Mike Arnold would blush when she would—no, it was not him. I am joking. I am joking. I think she did it to a man or two around here. I do not know. But she had a way of making people feel loved and at home like nobody else could do in our church.

Now, she—I do not think she ever taught a Sunday school class. She never was over a ministry in her church. Now, she made meals for people often. But I am saying she may not even have her name on one of these ministries, but she had a ministry. Every single person in our church, you have a ministry for God.

I think of Holmes. I think of my sister and brother-in-law that have adopted three children. What a ministry. Now, they may not have their name on a church ministry, but that is all incredible ministry. And every single person here, God has designed you, He has made you. You are His workmanship, and He has made you in such a way that you can serve Him like nobody else.

It is amazing how God has designed you to do certain things. If you just kind of got saved so you can kind of just go over there and soak it all up and get fat and sassy, if you will, then a good chance when you say, “Lord, forgive me, I am a dirty sinner. I cannot save me. I said, ‘Would You save me? And I want to be born again. I am trusting in You, Jesus.’” Boom, you get saved. Wow, you are in heaven. But it does not work like that.

God leaves this here. By the way, as long as you are here and you are breathing, God has things He wants you to do for Him. And it is not about being on some role that everybody sees, but it is you doing your job in your neighborhood. You may be the only one on your street that they see get up and go to church. And you are so vital to that neighbor. And they see you. You think they do not see you? It is amazing when we are out of church for COVID or whatnot, and a lot of us have been through that, and you have to stay home for a week or two. Your neighbors ask, “What is wrong?” “Well, how do you know anything is wrong?” “Well, your car did not leave Sunday and Monday, you know, Sunday morning, when it is night, yeah.” And have that up? Because they are watching. See?

I am talking about ways you will never dream of. God has uniquely designed you and fit you. And you say, “I just cannot do anything for God.” You are saying God is a failure of God. With all, friend, He is amazing. It is always been amazing to me. We will go out sorting sometime, just knocking on doors time after time, telling them about Jesus Christ. And some people, you know, if I can, I will try to use it. But some people, they find out I am the pastor, and so they will listen to me. Why did you laugh about that? Everybody there was—come on. I am teasing with you.

Some people find out I am the pastor and they do not—they will not look me in the eye after that. For whatever reason, I maybe had a bad experience with the pastor or whatever. They do not trust us. And our day and time, I understand it a little bit, you know. But that other person that I am with here may be, they are just—they got that personality, they have got that way about them, and they can connect with that person. And they are not going to connect with me. And God has made us all in unique ways. Many people, they are not going to talk to the preacher, but that coworker of yours, God has designed you where you can build a relationship with them and they will listen to you. But every single person here, you are His relationship. God made you in such a special way.

I think about a man used to come to our church years ago, Matthew Bly. It has been years ago. I am talking maybe 17, 18 years ago. And Matthew Bly, he was slightly handicapped. But Matthew Bly, in my opinion, could brighten the room up like nobody else. He just had that attitude, that spirit about him. We would be having a meeting in a room. Matthew Bly would walk in. It just seemed like you just kind of liked it because he is always happy and excited and glad to be at church. And he used to sing in the choir. Honestly, he could not pronounce his words super clear, but I think our choir leader at the time, he just liked to have Matthew Bly in the choir because he just brightened it up. And God had made him in such a way that he could kind of—you never worried about, “I have got to be a certain level to talk to Matthew Bly,” because of the way he was made him. But you knew he loved you and he was glad to be here, and he just was a blessing to shake his hand.

Every person here at God is—you are His workmanship. And you can do things for God that nobody else can. You are uniquely designed by God Almighty.

Now, I want you to know something else about this verse. Would you look that? We already looked at the one word, “His.” You are His workmanship. But let us keep going. We are in verse number 10. Ephesians 2, verse number 10. Keep your finger there. We will be going back to it all three hours long. No, we have fried chicken somewhere, so we are going to get out before that, amen. We will be out of here.

Notice what He says: “For we are His workmanship created in…” What are the next two words? “…Christ Jesus.” There is a Nissan plant over here, and they—Nissan cars are made in that plant. I do not know what all they are making now. They used to make the Frontier. I do not know if they do that anymore. Maybe the Rogue, maybe the Leaf. I do not know at all what all Nissan cars that they make. Is anybody here work at Nissan? Anybody work at Nissan? But they make cars there. And they are made in that plant.

See? And when you were—when you became a Christian, He is not talking about physically here; He is talking about spiritually. When you are born again, you are created in Christ Jesus. That is why He says He is in you and you are in Him. You are created. You are part of the body. We call it, in another place, the Body of Christ. You are created in Christ Jesus.

That is why, by the way, at the end of the day, if you do have some talents and some gifts, there is no reason in the world we should get proud because we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. We live and breathe in Him. Christ is everything to a spiritual born-again Christian. And we are created in Christ Jesus.

Now here is a sad thing about that. Have you ever seen someone and a part of their body does not work? Maybe someone—one of their legs does not work right. And so they walk and they kind of drag that leg along, you know, and everywhere they go, they are dragging that leg. You know, it is just a sad thing to see as they drag the leg along. My neighbor, I have mentioned him several times, he has had a stroke, and the left side of his body has been paralyzed. He is getting a little movement. And the first time I visited him in the hospital, I was not ready for it because he cannot move, and really could not smile at that time and do a lot of things because this side of his face just would not move. And it was sad to see that parts of his body were not functioning right.

How many of you ever thought this? I thought this in my time: Salvation is a free gift. I mean, you do not earn it. God gives it to you. Why are so many people dying and going to hell? It is a sad thing. Now, yes, ultimately it is their decision, and God gives light to every person. They take the light, God will give more light. But I think many times that I have kind of tried to dive into that a little bit, the resounding answer comes back because us Christians aren’t doing what we are made to do.

And if you will, and I do not mean to make light of Christ in any way, but in some ways it is almost like Christ in this world is having to drag some body parts because we are created in Christ Jesus. There is a lot to that. We are not getting it all. But you are in Christ. You are part of the Body of Christ. And if I am not doing what I am designed, I am a workmanship, created in Christ, and if I am not doing what is called me to do, there are parts of the Body of Christ that are not working. And if you will, the Body of Christ is somewhat crippled. It is a sad thing because His body is not functioning to full, if you will, because the people that are part of the Body of Christ are not working like that at all. It is a sad thing.

I think about the—we just had our mission conference. The millions that just need—they just need someone to go tell them, to love the Lord enough and love their soul enough to say, “Hey, I want to tell you how you can spend eternity in heaven.” But sometimes that Body of Christ is not functioning like at all too. So much there, but “created in Christ Jesus.”

At least keep going, if you would, please. Let us get another word out of this verse number 10, if you would please. Verse number 10 right there. “For we are His…” We talked about that, “workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” Unto good, what is the next word? “Works.” No, we are not saved by works. You will never go to heaven by works. You say, “Well, works aren’t important.” Oh, they are vital for Him. I am saved to work. God uses that word “work.”

It is a shame how in our society our society somewhat belittles work. It is a sad thing. Work is such a worthy, honorable thing. You say, “Well, praise the Lord, you are working.” I am proud of you if you are digging a ditch. Can I say this: Parents, teach your children to work. A young man—and I am sure some of these young men are here—a young man ought to know what it is to have a blister on his hand. Amen. You say, “Well, how are some of these young people on the streets doing this out of the other?” Because they are not been working all day long, that is why. And it is a shame we do not have work. It is a shame sometimes, and I am going to get off a little bit here, but we do not have workmen in our country that will work, and sometimes we allow people to come and do all our work for us because Americans sometimes are lazy. I am not for illegals and all that, and they want to come illegally; I am not for that. I am not for illegals, but it is a shame sometimes they are doing the work because Americans won’t do the work.

There is a wonderful verse. I like it, but the Bible says it is a wonderful—I have got to write it down here somewhere. Proverbs 14:23: “In all labor there is profit, but the talk of lips tendeth only to penury.” It is poverty. Someone said, “You talk, talk, talk. I wish you could work as hard as you talk.” You never work with somebody and you try to get something done, and all the one does is talk. Quit the talk of this work. Work is important. And for the cause of Christ, work is important. It is vital.

There are two chapters, Revelation 2 and 3, and He is talking to these seven churches. And every single church, He says right at the beginning when He is talking about them, He says, “I know thy works.” No, you do not get saved by works, but you ought to be saved unto—created in Christ Jesus—unto good works. We ought to be working for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I will meet somebody when I am knocking on doors or somewhere and I am a witness to, and whatnot, and they are saved. And, of course, they are going to believe what they say. But I will say, “Well, good. What church do you go to? Are you involved in the ministry there or something?” And they do not go to church, and they are not involved in the ministry. They are not really, as far as I can tell, doing anything for the Lord. And I think, “Where is your work at?” You ought to be working some way for the Lord. It might not be visible to everybody else, and that is fine. But the Lord ought to look down and say, “Hey, that person is my son, my daughter, and they are busy working for me.”

Good works. Working. Rolling your sleeves up and sweating and working and doing something for the Lord Jesus Christ in some capacity. Working. Works are vital. You will not go to heaven by your works. But can I say this? You will receive or not receive rewards according to your works.

Would you look, if you would please? Would you look over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, I believe it is? 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I do not have it in my Bible. I tell you what, I have got it in my Bible that is covered up by notes. I tell you what, Brother Anthony has already found it and everything. Man, he is on the ball. Look at this. Would you look over in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 3? Man, he is on the ball. Look at this. I was not looking at—look at this up. We are going to find the verse number 14. Would you look in verse number 14? If you would, please. Man, Brother Anthony has got young guys. Praise the Lord. I have glasses. Amen for that. Amen.

Would you look at verse number 14 right there, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse number 14? “If any man’s…” What is the next word? “…work…” Yeah. Should we get—should we back up and get a little bit? I will tell you what. Let us start verse number 11. We are going to get this thing briefly in here. We will just run through this thing real quick.

Verse number 11: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” That is your salvation. It is Jesus. Only Jesus.

Verse number 12: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones”—if you try them by fire, they get purer, you get better. Notice the second category: wood, hay, stubble. You try that by fire, it is going to burn up. Boom, gone. “Every man’s work”—God is concerned about your work—“every man’s work shall be made manifest,” made open. For the day shall declare it. This day is when we are standing before the Lord as born-again Christians. Say folks, because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

“If any man’s work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” If I am doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly saying, “I got saved and I want to serve Him.” Nobody may even know about it. Your neighbor got stuck, and you went over there and pulled them out because you want to be a good testimony to it. You forgave somebody at work, but they did not deserve it, but you want to be a good Christian. Oh, nobody knows, but God knows about it. But you are doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ and Him and Him alone. Friend, you have a reward. Five different crowns mentioned in the Bible. We will not list them all, but I think many others, but there will be rewards you will have; you will enjoy for all eternity.

But notice what He says. Let us keep going here. Verse number 15: “If any man’s work shall be burned.” They are saved, but they are living for money. They are saved, but they are living for popularity. They are saved, but they are living for luxury. They are saved, but they are living for sports. They are saved, but they are living for hunting. I like some of these things. I do not want to live for it. They are saved, but they are living for somebody else. They are saved, but they are living for the flesh, whatever it may be. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”

Did you notice that? He shall suffer loss. What does that mean? It means they are going to heaven because they got the foundation of Jesus Christ, but they have not been working for the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they get to heaven, God says, “I want to give you so many rewards, but you suffer loss. You haven’t spent your time working for Me. You spent your time working for this down here and for yourself and not for Me.” And God says, “I cannot give you those rewards I like to give you.”

My dad used to say—I do not think it is actually politically or biblically correct—but he used to say he always called me boy. “Boy, they are going to be street cleaners in heaven.” You know what I mean by that? They are saved and born again. And if they are, praise the Lord, they are, but they are not living for the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know the way to have to clean streets in heaven, but he is saying they will suffer loss because they have not been living for Him. And here is the sad part: You can work for Him because you are His workmanship. You can do something for Him that nobody else can. You are uniquely designed and made to reach someone and help someone and love someone and encourage someone like nobody else can do that. Here is workmanship.

Let us move along. We are going to run out of time. And there is fried chicken waiting somewhere, isn’t it? I tell you what, that is the Baptist bird. Let us keep going here. Ephesians 10, verse number—Ephesians 2, verse number 10, excuse me. Here we go. He says, “For we are His.” We looked at that word, “workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” So much there. Unto good, what is the next word? “Works.” When we are talking about work, we spread it out and just talking about physical work, and that is right, but it is important, it is vital. But He is not necessarily talking about—He is talking about good works.

Can I put it this way? He is talking about eternal works. He is talking about heavenly works. Good works. And there is a difference. Can I say this? When I begin to do good works for the Lord Jesus Christ, however He has made you to do it, we might not ever know about it. And that is fine. But you are doing the good works God has made you to do. It brings so much meaning to life. If it is just about the down here, at the end of the day, it is pretty empty for Him. You make a little money, and you spend a little more money. So you try to make a little bit more money, and they take that money, and you get this, and you love it for six months, and then it broke down, you know, or wreck or whatever may be. And if it is just about down here, I feel sorry for people that do not live for the Lord, and as they get older, so often they kind of get more empty because they realize it is pretty much done. They cannot do a lot of things they did before, and it is all over. Even some—yes, praise the Lord—they are saved, but a lot of them are not. But even if they are saved, they are not been living for the Lord. It is not quite the same.

But those that have been living for the Lord, so often I have seen it as they get older. I think about Brother Fontaine. I do not know how many times he told me, “Man, I’m ready. I’m ready. I’m ready. I’m ready.” David Jones had the privilege to spend just a little time with him yesterday. And the doctors have given him bad news, and he is going to try chemo and everything, but he is looking at going home in the next bit. And I will not say only God knows; we do not know. But I went to encourage him yesterday morning, but I will be honest with you, I left encouraged. He encouraged me. He did not really have his name—you know, Brother Jones—he did not have his name on this ministry, that ministry. But I do not know how many people he has gone and fixed their lawn for, most of them in our church, many of them in our church. He never charged them a dime for labor, sometimes for parts.

There is a young couple in our church that needed a lawnmower. I was trying to get a lawnmower for them. And I asked him about—“Hey, you know, are a good deal on lawnmowers?” “Yes.” I stopped by the house, and he gave me a lot more to give to them. He is still here. And I do not—be careful about it—but he spent much of his life doing good work for people, and I think for the Lord. And he was so—he said, “You know, I’m going to try some of this treatment just for my kids and my grandkids and whatnot.” But he said, “I—he said, ‘I’m 70. Doesn’t the Bible say something about three score?’” Yesterday, and he said, “I’ve had a good life.” And he knows where he is going. He has got a lot of rewards for someone that spent their life working for the Lord. And I have seen the great Christians in our church over the years, and man, they are just kind of excited because they have heaven to look forward to, a lot of rewards one day.

Good works. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now, let us keep going. Let us keep going. Verse number 10 there. I am not going to say that fried chicken. I am not going to say anything about it. Verse number 10. He says, “For we are His.” We looked at that word, “workmanship created in Christ Jesus.” Unto good works. Notice what it says here: “Which God hath…” Would you say those next two words, please? “…before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Can I put it this way? God does not say, “Well, I’ve got a guy. I’ve got a guy that’s got all kind of talents here. He’s a magician. He graduated top of a college of about 5,000 students. He can wear bow ties.” Amen. Really, honestly, Brother Greg is very talented, and I mean that in a lot of different ways. But God doesn’t look down and say, “Man, what can I do with a fellow like that right there?” That’s not about God. God looked out in time and He saw some people at a fair that needed a young man to tell them about Jesus Christ. And He needed someone that’s just got the personality just like that young man there, and that certain height and that certain color of the hair, and they needed to wear glasses, and they needed young folk shoes on. I do not know what they called all that stuff. But God looked out and He saw a job, a person that needed to be loved and helped. God made you to do that. That is what He’s saying. Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I ever formed thee in thy mother’s belly, I knew thee.” God has things He has before ordained that you should walk in them.

It is amazing all the things that God has made. Where’s Brother Philip? Brother Philip, do you mind about just—I used him in Sunday school. He is going to be mad at me when the day’s over, but let me just briefly, and I have got to hurry along, but talk about his daughter and son-in-law. His son-in-law was a son of a missionary in France. So he grew up knowing the French language, almost like his primary language. And halfway around the world, there was a young lady who grew up in French-speaking Canada, Brother Philip’s daughter, that grew up speaking French—not French, speaking French, speaking French. And she got saved, she lived with the Lord, and they both went to Bible college. And they just happened to meet at Bible College. And now God called Brother Stephen, his son-in-law—this is what you are going to have to help me with—to a country that speaks French. What is the name of that country, brother? Somebody else say that for me. Amen, whatever they said right there.

Now look, God knew this girl needed to be able to speak French, and this young man had kind of grew up that so they could go to a country that speaks French. Amen. “Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God has made you for special things. By the way, God has allowed you to go through sometimes tragedies so you can help people in a certain way. You can give to them something that nobody else could give to them because they have not been through it. I am going to run out of time, but I have got it. But your special tools that God spent a lot on, if you will, so you can help somebody nobody else can.

“Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Let us keep going real quick. Just a couple more things here from this verse, verse number 10. Would you back then verse number 10? “For we are His.” Notice that we are His “workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Which God has foreordained that we should…” What is the next word? “…walk.” It is just a continual thing. Every day you can just wake up and say, “God, what would You have me do for You today?” That is a good prayer. Who do You want me to help today? Who do You want me to forgive? Who do You want me to love today? Who do You want me to witness to today? “That we should walk in them.”

Even teenagers. Even these teenage young men. Yesterday we had Brother Dumpur’s birthday. And there is a man that’s just—I think about two years younger than my son, John. And he went to the same school, Christian school. And his name, Matthew Dumpur, Brother Dumpur’s grandson. And Matthew told me yesterday, he said, “You know, when I was in junior high, there were two people that really was a—I think, I don’t know, maybe use the word impression—was a good role model for me, made a good impression.” And he said one of them was your son, John. And praise the Lord. I am talking about even teenagers. Every person here, every stage of your life, God has something He wants you to do, “that we should walk in them.”

Notice what He says. That phrase here: “That we should.” In other words, the choice is up to you. “We should.” Friend, can I just say this here? If you do not live for God, I hope you are a born-again Christian, you will make it to heaven one day, but you will say, “I should have. I wish I would have.” This world has a way of entangling us, getting us caught up in things that seem so urgent, but so often they are not that important.

Can I just encourage you that we should? Friend, you want to spend your life living for the Lord. You do. The Bible does say in 1 John 2:28, “Now, little children…” Oh, let me read it for you. I will misquote it. “Now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence.” Now listen to this, “and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” It is talking to saved people, little children. If I am not living for Him, I am not abiding in Him, I can be ashamed. “God, I see those narrow, pierced hands when You gave me salvation. I haven’t lived for You.”

One last thought. We are done. That last part of verse number 10. But, oh, I will start earlier. “Which God hath before ordained that…” What is that next word? “…we should walk in them.” The community. It is just wonderful to have a church family and God’s people to fellowship with. And they encourage us. One last story, and I am done.

My wife and I, we got out of town Monday afternoon. We spent the night over in the thriving metropolis of Lyles, Tennessee. Anybody know where Lyles, Tennessee is? A couple of you do. Yeah, it is—I think this is true. I do not even think they have a red light there. Maybe one light. No, I do not think they do have a light. They do not have it there. I mean, it is not even one light in the whole town. It is just a little bit town. And we were staying at a little Airbnb just one night and just get away a little bit. And we went to a grocery store, a little bit of a grocery store. It was their Walmart of the area. You had to travel pretty ways to get to Walmart. And we went there, and there were two young ladies, teenage young ladies, at the cash register bagging the bags, you know. And really, there wasn’t that many people in this little grocery store. And we left and went and got the car. And my wife said, “Man, I’m convicted.” And she said, “I’m going to be there to talk to those girls about the little words.” She walked back in there, and she’s in there leading them to the Lord.

Now, you know what? Your pastor was so brave and so right with God. You know what I was doing? I was sitting out in the car. I was sitting there while in the car, she’s in there witnessing to them. It was good for me. A little while later on the next day, you know what I was doing? I was witnessing. And we all need that, that we should walk in the way.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Heads bowed, eyes closed. You are here this morning. We talked about salvation at the very beginning. Friend, it is not a commitment. He gives it to you. It would be the wisest, best decision you will ever make in all your life. But if you have never been saved, if you have never changed your eternal destiny from hell to heaven, today would be a great day to do it. Jesus loves you so very much. He has already shed His blood for you to go to heaven for every one of your sins, past, present, and future, all of them. But the choice is yours.

Our heads bowed, eyes closed, and you are there and you say, “I have never done that.” I am going to do this a little different. Give you a few minutes. It is so important. If you are there and you say, “I know I’m a sinner. I know that. I know I can’t save myself. I know there’s a punishment, death and hell. But Jesus, I believe You died on the cross and rose again. I believe You died for me.” And you want to go to Jesus today, and you want to put all your faith in Him to pay for every one of your sins and take you to heaven one day. If that is you right there where you said, right there where you said, maybe online, right there, would you go to Jesus right now? It is not magical words in prayer, but in your heart, would you go to Him and say, “Oh, dear Jesus, I’m a sinner, I know that. I can’t be good enough to earn my way to heaven, but Jesus, I want to put my faith in Your grace and Your shed blood on the cross. Would You pay for all of my sins? Would You come in my heart? Would You save me, Jesus? I’m trusting in You alone, Jesus.”

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. You said, “Preacher, I just prayed. I never have, but I just prayed and asked Jesus to be my Savior. I meant it. I just asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior.” If that is you this morning, you slip your hand up. Anybody like that? We are not looking. Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Anybody else looking? “I just asked Jesus to be my Savior.” Anybody like that? Slip it up. What a wonderful thing. Most important thing in all the world.

Hey, Christian, you are there and you say, “You know, I need to be involved in the ministry.” And I am not talking about these loving ministry, but in the ministry some way. Nobody might not know about it, but the ministry is some way God’s work. I need to be involved in good works. And God spoke to my heart. I’ve got to get involved for the Lord, however it may be. I got to get involved. God spoke to my heart. I need to be involved in the work of the Lord. God spoke to my heart about that. That is you this morning. You slip your hand up, preacher. “I need to be involved.” God bless you. God bless you. “I need to be involved.” God bless you. “I need to be involved.” God bless you. Can I say you’d be so happy? You’ll never be as happy as just doing what you’re made to do, serving God. Anybody else? Anybody be involved? Maybe one more. One more. “Need to be involved.” Maybe a young person. Maybe a young person. “Need to be involved in the work of God.” God bless you. Thank you so very much.

You say, “Preacher, I’m involved, but the devil’s discouraging me. And I sometimes I feel like I’m not accomplishing much, and I’m so tempted to give up and quit.” Maybe it’s the prayer ministry. What a vital ministry. I’m just tempted not to pray anymore. Whatever the ministry is, preacher, man, the devil’s only so many times, and my flesh is on, and I feel like I’m not getting anything done, but I’m going to stay involved. And God spoke in my heart, “By the grace of God, I’m going to be working for Him until the day He takes me home.” God spoke to my heart about that. “I’m going to stay involved.” That’s me this morning. God spoke to my heart about that. If that is you this morning, you slip your hand up, preacher. “That’s me.” “That’s me.” God bless you. God, need you to stay involved. Anybody else? Anybody else? Sometimes the devil just comes home and says, “Well, I don’t know if it’s worth it.” “I’m going to stay in there and keep serving.” Anybody else? Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. Many, many hands. God bless you.

Would you please stand? Would you please stand right there? You have—would you come spend some time with the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you do that? Would you serve you? Let me stay faithful? Maybe just praying for them. Would you do that? We’re going to pray and you come. Father, thank You that we’re Your workmanship. Thank You that we’re created in You, Christ Jesus. So much power there. And then, Father, help us to do the good works that You’ve already designed and ordained us to walk in them. It happens to be in the community of Your people working for You. And Lord, we thank You for what You do in Jesus. Then we pray, amen.

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray.” You come and talk one of these men down front. Need to settle my salvation when you come and talk with him. He’d be glad to help.

Life, it just adds so much meaning, so much joy, when you say, “Hey, it’s not about the earthly things.” That’s necessary, but the good works. I want to be involved in the good works for God. Lord, would You lead me? I’ll follow. Would You lead me? Whatever it may be, wherever it may be. Maybe it’s just to put gospel tracks on gas tanks. But Lord, have You lead. I’ll follow. I want to be involved in Your mission. Would you just let Him know that? Lord, I want to do Your work. Let Him know that as we sing another verse.

Lord, I find Thy power in Thine alone can change the leopard’s spots and make him I owe. Amen. So glad you’re in the house of the Lord on a Sunday morning, thrilled to see every person now. And I’m excited. About two weeks from Sunday, we’ll have tables set up all over, and maybe there’d be a way to get involved. It’d be a great, great thing. We’d love you to be involved in how the Lord leads. And I believe we’ve got some folks coming up here, Brothers Spurlock and Miss Spurlock. And amen. Did you want to say a word, Brother Spurlock?

Amen. He said he’s got his master. Brother, are y’all coming to join the church? Yes. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord for that. There you go. I’ll tell you what, we’re going to make this thing official. Been saved and been baptized by immersion. I thought—I thought your word. These are great, great people. And they live over by Smyrna elementary school, right there, elementary school, middle school, right across the street from them. But they’ve always got Bible verses or some conservative political sign up there. I love it. And great, great people. And praise the Lord for them. They’ve been serving the Lord for years and years and years. He’s got some great stories. And he writes some great points, by the way. And you ought to get some of their great. And we’re excited about them coming. If you’re excited about them coming and joining the church this morning, would you say amen? Amen.

Praise the Lord for that. And great people and been serving the Lord for years. And we’re excited about that. What a blessing that is. Praise the Lord for it. Amen. What a wonderful thing. Amen for that. We’re going to get Brother Bill over here. Brother Bill, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer, please, sir.

Original File: Created to Serve - Pastor Paul Chisgar 2622