“God
Is Not Unrighteous to Forget” By Chris Ulrich May 20th,
2018 Thank you, you may be seated. So, Malcolm just asked, “How
many is
ready to go home?” And, I don't know if you heard me, but I was like,
“Yes!” he
said, “How many is ready to go home?” and I said, “Yes!” then he said,
“How many
is ready to worship?” and I was like, “Yes!”
Basically, what he meant was, continuing on. And, I've got
the message,
so, the irony to that is, “Yeah, sure, let's go!” I was talking about
home.
(pointing upward) That home. And, I don't know how many of you have
noticed
today, how—okay, let's just put it bluntly, it's a pretty lousy day for
a
spring day, right? How many noticed that? I did. Okay. We wondered,
“Well, what
happened to spring?” It's forty degrees out, it's raining, but just,
just be
optimistic, because it's going to be pretty nice here in a couple of
days. But,
I thought about that as I was coming here, driving through the rain,
and I
thought, “You know what? What a beautiful day for the Lord to come
again.” That's
a song we used to sing many years ago, many times, and I always
appreciated
that. So, there's a TV show that used to air on the Discovery
channel, for
about a decade, it featured a guy that did a variety of tasks like
cleaning out
septic tanks, working in the oil fields, or the refineries, cleaning up
zoos, and
the animals in the zoos, and it was based on actual professions that
exist.
And, the depiction was just to kind of show that not everybody works in
an
office job. That's not a criticism, that's just a fact. That's the
society that
we have. It was never about being critical of anyone else, it was just
merely showing
the unseemly side of industry. So, the show was aptly titled, “Dirty
Jobs.”
does anybody remember that show? I'm going to ask Mike Alford, if he could come up. He's
going to read
from the Book of Matthew, chapter six. So, if you have your Bibles, you
could
turn with us to the book of Matthew, chapter six, verses one through
six. And,
when Mike’s done reading, I'm going to ask if you could lead in a word
of
prayer for the sermon. Matthew 6:1-6 Take heed that ye do not your
alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of
your Father
which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound
a
trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets,
that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their
reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret
himself
shall reward thee openly. And, when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as
the
hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in
the
corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto
you,
They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Mike: Lord Jesus,
we just praise your Holy name, Lord God. We come before
you with open arms, open hearts, Lord God, we just want to be your sons
and
your daughters. Lord God. And, we want to hear, “Well done, thou good
and
faithful servant,” at the end of this life, Lord God. And, we want to
help
others that we know, that we love, and that we care for, people that we
meet on
the street, people that we've known for years, Lord God, and family
members,
Lord, we want to be used by You to reach those that, if it can be done,
Lord
God, they might be here, they might hear, “Well done, thou good and
faithful
servant,” also, Lord God. And, we just pray for the service this
morning, that
you would anoint and bless brother Chris, Lord God, as he delivers the
message
that you’ve put on his heart, Lord God, and help us to receive what you
have
for us, that we could help our lives, and help others. In Your name,
the name of
Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you Mike. So, I don't do this real often, but for the
sake of
this term, it's not a very common term that’s spoken in the language,
nowadays,
but I thought it would be helpful to give a short biblical concordance,
along
with the dictionary, definition of the word alms. So, the concordance,
this is
the actual definition out of the concordance: alms, it means: Mercy,
pity, as
exhibited in giving charity, to exercise towards the poor or donations.
The
dictionary is pretty similar: something, such as food or money, given
freely to
the poor. So, we're going to highlight the importance of actually doing
alms,
but we're not going to stop there, because this is going to be a tie-in
to “Dirty
Jobs.” And, the reason for that is because the first part of the sermon
today
is titled, “Dirty Jobs.” “Dirty Work,” I'm sorry, “Dirty Work.” Part 1:
Dirty
Work But, this is in reference to the work that we do as
Christian's that,
it doesn't get a lot of fanfare, doesn't get a lot of—it's not seen
much, but
without these things, without these aspects as a function of our
church, our
church wouldn't exist. So, I put together a list of six categories that
are
areas of ministry that I believe God laid on my heart, that have
nothing to do
with talent, but everything to do with our heart, and willingness. But,
I want
to make reference to John chapter eleven, verse two. That’s our theme
verse for
the month, and it simply reads: John 11:2
(It was that
Mary which
anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair,
whose brother
Lazarus was sick.) So, we heard that shared last week, Parrish preached on
that. And, we
think about how, when he mentioned that, the value of that ointment
that she
used was about a year's worth of wages. So, it wasn't something that
was cheap,
off-the-shelf, or out of a bubble gum machine; it was something that
there was
some effort made in getting it. But, then, you also look at the aspect
of it
from what she actually did, the physical aspect of she took her hair,
which is
the glory of a woman, which is what the Bible talks about (1
Corinthians 11:15),
and she washed a man's feet, with that ointment. Now, I would venture
to say
that's not glamorous, that's not walking the runway on Fifth Avenue, or
one of
these things where it's like, “Oh, yeah, look at this dress; look at
these
beautiful dresses and outfits,” this is something that I would
consider, this
is dirty work. So, this list, that I'm going to share with you, here,
in a
moment, it's an absolute—it's not a complete, and it's not all to do
with just
alms, but, it's based on the definitions given earlier, because some of
these
things will be noticed by others. So, in other words, alms is something
that we
do in private. Some of these things I'm about to share are some things
that are
going to be a little bit more publicly seen, but it's not a matter of
tooting our
own horn, or trying to get seen as a result of them. But, they all have
to do
with giving, and I want to highlight again, they have nothing to do
with
talent. So, I also want to share that Pete, last night, he puts
together some
of the notes for our messages, and, right on my calendar, right on my
desk,
right next to where I do my work, I have, on Friday nights, prior to
the Sunday
sermon that I have, “E-mail Pete Shepherd with the notes to the
sermon.” So, I
went through the entire day yesterday, and really didn't think anything
of it,
and I'm watching the basketball and hockey game last night for a little
while—I
had already prepared the message—so, I put together everything, and,
out of the
blue, I get this text, I'm sorry I got an E-mail, which comes to my
phone,
fortunately, and it's Pete, asking me, “Well, where are the notes, and
where is
the sermon title?” And, I was like, “Oh, my God, you've got to be
kidding.” So
at this point, this is about 9 o’clock, 9:30 at night, so, I've got to
say, I
appreciate that, Pete, and, I would say that's another thing, you do
stuff,
like, you do things like this that would kind of be considered dirty
work. It's
behind the scenes, it's not always seen by everybody, it's not always
noticed
or given recognition. So, I want to share these things, and, Pete, if
you’ve
got that list that I emailed you, so, the first one is gift of helps.
And, we've
heard this expression, “Help someone across the street.” And, we can
help in
any way, shape, or form, it's not a difficult task, doesn't mean it has
to be
something where you've got a degree, or where you've got an
apprenticeship in
some kind of skill. Having the gift of helps could be as simple as like
I just
said, just helping somebody cross the street. That's probably one of
the most
common expressions we've heard. The second one is visitations. All it takes is a willingness
to go. The third one is evangelism. We can all invite somebody to a
gathering,
study, a worship service, or any kind of function. The fourth one is tithes and offerings. I would venture to
say that
every single one of us in this room has had some amount of income,
however
small or great, at some point in their life. Otherwise, I would say,
you know,
somebody that doesn't, I'd have to really question that. Because you
have to
look at it from the standpoint, okay, from the first job you ever had,
we
talked about that a couple of months ago, what was the very first job?
And,
again, this is something that doesn't require, necessarily, a talent,
but it
does require an effort. The fifth thing is hospitality. God gives us the power to be
friendly,
we can all practice that. The Bible talks about he that hath friends
must show
himself friendly (Proverbs 18:24). So what is something that takes an
effort on
our behalf. And, prayer is the last one. Anybody can pray. And, even
though it's
the easiest one on this list, it's the hardest one to actually do.
Because,
sometimes we think, “Oh, well, I'll get to it eventually.” “Well, I'll
do it
some other time, or wait till I get to a large group,” or whatever the
case
might be. But, the prayer ties the purpose of everything else together.
And, I'm
going to have to say, Rebecca, I appreciate the things that you shared,
because
you were hitting on a lot of these things, as far as, in regards to
serving
others, or, as far as, whether it's visitation, or whether it's being,
participating in whatever the activity is, whatever the reason that
we're doing
what we're doing, because the goal is to ultimately see souls saved.
We've
heard that shared for many years in our ministry. Get saved, stay
saved, see
other souls saved. I would say that that's not our church creed, but I
would
say it's a close second. So, having said all that, I'll have to admit
that
doing things like, doing these things isn't always easy, and it's not
always
fun. And, I would have to say that we're in agreement with that. That,
doing
these particular tasks, whether it's evangelism, whether it's tithes
and
offerings, whether it's helping out, it's not always easy, it's not
always
convenient, it's not always fun, but who here is heard the expression,
“They
were willing to get their hands dirty,” or “They weren't willing to get
their
hands dirty?” Okay, so, if you haven't heard that, it's kind of
metaphorical,
meaning it doesn't always literally mean that. But, I’ll say this, I'll
just share
something: yesterday, so, we’ve had a lot of rain, the grass is green
as you
could possibly get, so that's good. So, I'm going to be out of town,
here, for
the next week, so I thought, now is a good time to mow the lawn. So,
mow the
lawn, trim the edges, you know, so, hose down some of the building,
clean up a
little bit. But, by the time I was done my hands were green. I mean,
they were
literally green, from, you know, all the grass, and cleaning out the
bottom of
the mower. So, it's one of those things, that had nothing to do with
doing it
for God, it just had to do with, that's a task that, do I have to—now,
I'm going
to tie that into our message, here, I sort of like doing the lawn, I
don't
always like it, sometimes I feel like I get a little sick of doing it,
but,
that has to do with anything in life. There are tasks that we do, that
aren't
always fun, or enjoyable, but, I'm going to share this: that it's not
as though
in this life, we never have fun. There's many times in our life that we
have
good, clean, wholesome fun. But, my analogy, now, is that people that
do the
dirty jobs, as we talked about earlier, and, if you ever did see that
show, you
really have a good idea of what I'm talking about, it's always about
finishing
a task. Because, while you're going through the midst of it, it's not
always
that enjoyable. But, it's just a matter of knowing, Well, it's got to
get done.”
And, whether it could be while I'm getting paid for it, or I'm helping
somebody
else out, or I have to do it, whatever the case might be, it is just a
matter
of understanding that these are the kind of things that, they're grunt
work, they're
dirty work, so, what are we thinking about when we decide we're going
to help
somebody or not help them? What goes through our minds when we’re
thinking,
we're going to go visit somebody, it could be the hospital, it could be
another
place, it could be fellowship, or we decide, “No, I'm not going to do
it.” What's
going through our mind when God lays it on our heart to pray, or to
invite
somebody out to for coffee or for a meal, and we just think, “Nah, I'm
not
going to do it. I don't really feel like doing it.” I’d sum up this
entire
notion of these endeavors as dirty work. And, I know I've included on
this list
more than just giving to the poor. But, again, it's all about, we're
talking
about things that are not convenient, they're not always easy, and not
always
what we want to do, but we can't forget what the result of this is. The
result
is that God will reward us openly. So, what does that look like? It
could be a
stronger anointing. It could be a blessing on the job. It could be a
blessing
that you've made connections, or you've suddenly had more favor with
somebody
that you didn't expect to. It could look a million different ways. But,
I
guarantee you, it's always going to be positive. Because, if God's Word
says
that He's going to reward us openly, it's not going to be like a punch
in the
gut. It's not going to be something like a slap in the face; it's going
to be
something where it's going to keep us going in the faith, it's going to
make us
stronger. And, God rewards us for those things that we do secretly or
privately, because it's never about drawing attention to ourselves, but
giving
glory to God. So, our General Pastor, Pastor Paine, for those of you who
don't know,
he's our head pastor in our headquarters in Norfolk Virginia. He shared
a story,
this was probably twenty years ago, and he talked about how there was a
lady
from our church that had been in the hospital, and I don't remember all
the
details, as to exactly why, but, he was sharing that—he was a pastor at
the
time, so, maybe this was late 80’s, early 90’s, or somewhere around
that time
frame, maybe a little later, but, he basically said he went to visit
this lady
every single day that she was in the hospital, and not to brag about
it, or not
to draw attention to himself but just for the sake of sharing the rest
of the
story. In fact, if she had never said anything afterwards, I bet that
he
probably would have never said anything. Because, it’s a matter of,
it's not
something that you just publicly vocalize and you’ve got to tell
everybody
about it. So, anyway, what happened was, when she got out of the
hospital, she
made it clear to him that absolutely nobody in the church visited her,
at all, her
entire time in the hospital. So, now, this is Pastor Paine sharing this
story, and
he was saying, “I was taken aback a little bit by it,” because, then I
kind of
wondered, ‘Well, I remember going there to actually visit you.’” Now,
he didn't
say that immediately, but, the more she was insistent about it, that,
“I just
can't understand what kind of church this is, that nobody in our church
would
visit, whatsoever!” so, after a while, he felt, “I couldn't hold back
anymore,”
and he said, “I remember coming there every single day of the week. I
remember
coming there the entire time you were in there.” And, so, you know what
she
said? She said, “Well, you know what? You're the pastor. That's your
job.
You're supposed to do that. It doesn't mean as much when you come,
because I'm
expecting people in the congregation to come.” Now, I would say there
was some
degree of validity to what she said; I don't agree with how she worded
it
completely. She could have been a little bit more tactful in the way
she said
it. And, I don't even know who it was. Now, how many remember that
story? That
was quite a while ago. But, how do we look at a predicament like that?
On the
one hand, we could think, “Okay, well, yeah, it's his job.” Not
necessarily
every single day. I think that was really going the extra mile. Let's
just say,
over that course of time he visited her three times. I would say that's
pretty
good. I mean, I would say that's good. I mean, you got to look at it
like, “Hey,
thank God,” you know? But, what I would say is this: what's expected of
us? Are
these the kind of jobs that are only the jobs of the pastor, or those
in
leadership? And, what's expected of us is part two of the message today. Part 2:
What’s
Expected of Us I remember, shortly after I was baptized, and, I was still
in the
service, I was stationed down in Norfolk Virginia, and had a few days
of leave
time, so I ended up spending it with some people in the church. The
church
that's down there now, this was back then. I had been home visiting
family,
probably about a month-and-a-half before, so, I didn't feel like I was
going to
do a return visit. I mean, you got a factor in the cost of the airline
ticket
and everything else. And, I thought, “Oh, it's only a few days, so I
think I want
to spend it with the church, kind of get to know people here a little
bit more.”
So, there was an apartment building that a few brothers had owned. And,
so, they
had asked, “Well, if you've got a few days off, you want to stay with
us?
That's fine.” We have different functions, you know, we had a Wednesday
night
service, Thursday, different things, ran errands, things like that. So,
it
wasn't like it was an overload of church activity the entire time, but,
it was
something where there definitely was activity. So, I didn't really
understand
the concept of Fellowship, really, that well; I've shared that before,
for
those of you that don't know me. I wasn't really raised religious; I
was raised
Catholic, but stopped going at kind of a young age. Fellowship was
what? I
mean, honestly, it was just an absolute foreign term. I didn't even
know—“What?
What is that?” I mean, I'm just telling you the honest-to-God truth.
Prior to
being baptized, does anybody here knew absolutely nothing about
fellowship? Oh,
good. I'm in good company. So, anyway, after an evening, one night, we
went
back to the apartments, I don't know, maybe nine o’clock, ten o’clock,
kind of
wind down the day, and, as we were sitting around, one of the guys was
just
like, “Hey, you want to look at some pictures? I've got some photo
albums of
trips I've made, and things back home.” John Hoffman is the guy, he's
still
down there, and I have to say, it might sound, “That's boring, that's
nothing.
So the guys got, showed you some pictures, big deal.” Well, you know
what? It
meant a lot to me. It really meant a lot, because here's a guy that
didn't have
to do that, he's spending time, he's just sharing some things. Real
life. I
mean, this isn't like, “Well, you want to go over another Bible study?”
Now,
don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for that. It's all
things in
balance. You know, life is about time. So, it's not a matter of, you
want to
overload everybody with the same thing. But, I remember this isn't
something
that was earth-shattering or spectacular, or anything that anybody
would write
a book about, but I'm sharing it because it meant so much to me, early
on,
Rebecca, shortly after I get baptized, that made such an impression on
me. I mean,
not just that, there were other things that followed. I mean there were
plenty
of other things that I believe, you know, acts of Charity, or miracles
of God, or
things that happened in my life that I knew this is where I want to be.
This is
the ministry that I believe God’s called me to be. I’m sorry, you know
what? it
was actually Linda, you had shared that about shortly after being
baptized. Rebecca,
you had shared about the gifts and different things like that. But,
these are
some highlights. These are some ways of encouraging people, of
uplifting
people, of keeping them in the faith. And, you know, at that time, it
was a
faithful brother in God just sharing something with a total stranger,
and that
stranger was me. But, like I said, that did make a difference. I'm
going to
read a verse from The Book of Proverbs, eighteen, ten. A common verse,
a very
simple verse: Proverbs 18:10
The name of the
LORD is a strong
tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. I'm going to ask Vince Stepchuk to come up. He's got
something that
happened several years ago, and he's going to share a little more of
the
details, but have you ever had something that happened, or an
experience that
you just knew was just right? You knew you couldn't put your finger on
it
exactly, but you knew this is absolutely right. This is the way life
should be.
This is the way things should happen. Vince: This was
probably over thirty years ago, but I was in the Navy, and I
was stationed in upstate New York, Saratoga Springs. Parish, maybe
you're
familiar with it? Fellow nuke. Anyway, that's where they went to train
the
nukes in the Navy for, you know, to go on a ship. When I was living in
upstate
New York, I would go visit my grandparents who lived in Vermont on a
pretty
regular basis, and, one time, during the winter time, there was snow on
the
ground. I was coming back, and I have an old Torino station wagon, old
Ford
Torino station wagon, and for some reason, I can't even remember what
it was, why
I did it, I think I was just trying to get my bearings, maybe pull a
map out,
make sure I was going the right way. Because, those roads up there,
sometimes
you can't even find a sign for something, like. what road am I on? And,
I
pulled over to the side, and I was a little bit too far off to the side
of the
road, because everything had a flat patch of snow on it. And, I ended
up part
way in the ditch. And, the car just sort of just slid down into the
ditch. And,
anybody here, you know anything about those old cars, they're not
light. They're
not easy for a couple of people to push around. And, I was just stuck
there. No
cell phone, no nothing. And, there was one house right near where I was
in the
ditch, but, I'm thinking, “Man, what do I do now?” And, this guy just
walks out
from his house, he looks at it, doesn't say a word, and he goes back
into his
garage, gets his pickup truck out, gets out a chain, tells me to hook
it up to
the frame of the car and pulls me out. He didn't even say a thing until
he
mentioned hooking the chain up to the car. Pulled me out of the ditch,
asked me
where I was going, and then asked me if I want to come in and sit down
and have
dinner with his family? And, I'm just thinking, “Where am I at? This is
not
Chicago, this is not Detroit.” That was God, you just can't forget
things like
that. I appreciate people's hospitality when they show up like that. He
went
out of his way to help me out, not only did he not ask anything in
return, he
was sitting and asking me if I wanted to come in and have dinner with
his
family on top of it. I was like, this guy's generosity knows no bounds. And, I knew I felt safe around that group. And, even though
I'd only
known them for a very, very short time, that verse that I just read
about the
name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous run into it and are
safe.
That's how I felt. I mean, I just—I couldn't explain it. And, it was
one of
those things like Vince was sharing, who are these people? Now, the
funny thing
is, a couple of months later, Vince, and a group of other people, they
were—in
Norfolk, there's a lot of military, a lot of Navy, I think army is down
there
too, Marines, right, right so anyway, their ship came in, there was
about eight
people from their crew, that were part of the church, and they were all
like-minded. I mean, it was sort of miraculous, because I was seeing
wave after
wave, and it was like everybody had individualism, everybody had a
personality,
everybody had different places to be, different ethnic groups, so on
and so
forth, but I was blown away by that steadfastness, that unity, that
love of
God, that it started to really dawn on me more and more, that's what
it's
about. That's where the difference is made. And, I would say, it just
left such
a strong impression. But, you know, this isn't about getting on some
emotional
rollercoaster. As far as, trying to go up-hill to make up for lost
time, you
feel like you've missed out, but, on the other end of the scale, it's
not about
getting on that same roller coaster and going down, and thinking, “You
know
I've done enough. I've just had it; I don't feel like I really want to
do much
more of it. And, I'm just going to mail it in from this point forward.”
it's
about being steady, and about just going on about our business, without
fanfare, or everyone else noticing. “God Sees All,” is part 3, and the
last
part of our sermon today. Part
3: God Sees
All This I'm going to ask Abby Avellino, she's going to come up and
read, from
the Book of First Thessalonians, four, verses nine through twelve. We
may feel
like we're not getting the recognition, or notice, or honor, or
whatever way
you want to put it, but, God sees all. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
But as touching
brotherly love
ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God
to love
one another. And, indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in
all
Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more; And, that
ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with
your own
hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that
are
without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. Thanks Abby. So, study to be quiet, do your own business,
and work with
your hands. How's that for putting our nose to the grindstone, as the
old
expression goes? It's not about whether somebody's really loud, or a
clam; it's
about being steady, and continuing to do the work of God whether
anybody else
sees it or not. And, sometimes people will see it. Sometimes they
won’t. This
might sound kind of strange, but I honestly believe that the biggest
reason that
people decide not to start utilizing those gifts, not to do
visitations, not to
share the Word of God, not to give, not to have hospitality, and not to
pray;
it's the same reason that they would stop doing them, if they were
already
doing them. Because, Satan likes to get us to think it doesn't make any
difference. Satan likes to get us to think, “Well, it's the pastor's
job. It's
somebody else who’s getting paid.” And, I'll tell you this much, I have
worked
in the finance department of our ministry, and it's a very, very modest
amount,
any of those who are on full-time, or have ever been on full time. And,
I don't
think that's putting it lightly. That's something where, give honor
where honor
is due (Romans 13:7), we don't muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn
(Deuteronomy 25:4, 1 Timothy 5:18), and the Word of God has to go
forward. And,
as I shared earlier about Pastor Paine, when he did those visitations,
I mean, that's
not an easy thing to do, and it takes time. And, when you've got
hundreds of
people that are, you're at their beck-and-call, I guess you could put
it like
that, a lot of times you just feel like you're being pulled in every
single
solitary direction. And, that's a challenge. And, so, as far as, it
talks
about, like, in the Old Testament, those who held up Moses hands, when
they
were in battle, then the Israelites were winning. They were winning the
war.
They were victorious. But, when they didn't hold them up anymore, they
started
seeing defeat (Leviticus 17:11-12). I mean, I know that's metaphorical,
too,
but it's an actual literal thing, if you look at the Old Testament.
Now, that
translates into just being supportive, just being able to do your job.
What is
your job? It's those six things we mentioned—there's others. There's
others. I
mean, this isn't trying to get accusatorial, or, “You're not doing your
job!” Nobody
answers to me. Everybody answers to God, though. And, God does see it
all. Last
verse, today: Hebrews, chapter six, verses nine through ten: Hebrews 6:9-10
But, beloved,
we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we
thus
speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of
love, which
ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the
saints, and
do minister. “God Is Not Unrighteous to Forget,” is the sermon today;
it's the title
of the sermon today. And, there's a specific reason I shortened it to
“God Is
Not Unrighteous to Forget,” as opposed to that verse in its entirety.
The
reason is God is not unrighteous to forget anything at all, including
our
labors. God's not going to forget anything that we do, including our
labors.
That's why God is not unrighteous to forget. But, ultimately, it's a
reminder
that even if and when people don't notice what we do, and very often
that will
be the case, God is not unrighteous to forget. And, even if and when we
feel
like we're doing something that very few are willing to do, those dirty
jobs,
it's for the upbuilding of God's kingdom. God is not unrighteous to
forget.
And, it's a reminder that our time here on Earth is not going to last
forever.
We need to work the work while it is day, for the night cometh when no
man can
work (John 9:4), and that God is not unrighteous to forget our work and
labor
of love. Thank you, and God bless you.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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