Sermon Notes

“My Private Life”

By Brother Kenneth Ray

September 25^th, 2011

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Luke 8:17        For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest…

 There are two points about private life that I want to talk about:

1)                  Private time spent with God, around God, in God, etc.

2)                  Private time spent away from God.

 I’m going to tell you a story this morning.  This is a true story.  A young man is on a football team.  He looks like any other boy that would live in his neighborhood.  He acts like any boy his age would act.  This is his first year playing football.  One day, not too many days into the season, second or third game, well, maybe the fourth game, the mother of a teammate of this boy’s speaks to the boy’s mother.  She speaks of the boy in this story, how he acts, and asks the mother about her Christian life.

Lesson number one:  This lady didn’t tell the other woman that she was a Christian.  She had not previously spoken to her about her Christian life.  She was asked about her private life.  The prayers that she has, the time she has spent reading and studying, and praying for God’s help in raising her son properly.

 Matthew 6:4    …the Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

 Lesson number two:  Your private life isn’t always private.  Often, the life that you lead in public is a reflection of what you do in private.  If you are prideful in private, then you’ll be prideful in public.  If you are humble in private, then you’ll be humble in public.  If you are gracious in private, you’ll be gracious in public.  If you put others before yourself in private, then you will in public, too.

This woman’s private life made her son and her life useful for the work of God’s Spirit to someone else.  Let your good works be seen, so others will glorify God the Father.

 Matthew 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

 My mother used to tell me that when I would show off or act out, that people didn’t ask what was wrong with me, they asked about the way that she was raising me.  One time when I was in the third grade—this is another true story—I had been acting up in school, and we were having ‘big recess’ and my mom rode up to school.  We only lived a few blocks from the school, so my mom was able to just get on her bike and ride over.  I didn’t know why she was there; I just saw my mom and I ran over to hug her.  She whipped me good, and I didn’t get it.  But then she pointed her finger at me, and said two words that let me know I was in trouble; she said, “Little boy.”  Then she went on to say, “Your teacher called me.  You embarrassed me, and now I’ve embarrassed you.”  I’ve got to say, I never got a whipping that I didn’t deserve (that was back when parents could whip their children, in case any of you are thinking about calling the cops on my mom).  

It’s one thing to read about it, and another thing to feel the joy of living it out.  A lot of people can quote Scripture, but can you live what Scripture teaches?  Sometimes our private lives are more of pride, because of what we know, but our private lives should be humble, because of what we know.  You know, TV evangelists have a lot of pride.  If you looked inside my life you would see some pride.  Pray for your leaders, or they won’t get any better.  Remember the story of the mote and the beam? (Matthew 7:3-5)

You will be exposed at some point, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  If you are living right, and doing what you’re supposed to be doing, that will be revealed.  What will you be found to be?

 Romans 1:16-17          For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth…

 Where are we going to be found to be when we are exposed?

I’m going to use the first three Rocky movies to make a point.  In the first movie, Rocky was a nobody, but he got a shot.  That’s kind of like salvation; we weren’t anybody, but God gave us an opportunity.  He had to train, he worked hard.  We have to pray and study, we have to push.  He fought hard; he didn’t win, but he went the distance.  We have to put God’s Word to use, and go the distance (endure to the end).

In the second movie, he thinks, maybe I can do this.  He trains harder and longer, and he wins (barely).  When we grow closer to God, our faith grows, and God gives the victory.  Have you made up your mind that you’re not going to live away from God any more?

In the third movie, he lost his hunger.  He was living good; he stopped training; he lost the title.  He found that he had to struggle, that he needed help.  It wasn’t easy, but he found someone that wouldn’t let him quit, and he came back.  Sometimes we get to the point where we feel like we know the Scriptures so well.  I can teach a Bible study; I’ve been the ministry for so many years…  But you can do it with the right help (God); you don’t have to live a life away from God.  Don’t lose your hunger.

Someone shared with me before service that someone that he worked with committed suicide, and on this man’s Facebook page, he said that his favorite band was Third Day.  For those of you not familiar with Third Day, they are sort of a Southern Gospel Christian Rock band.  But you know, when you lose hope, it really doesn’t matter who your favorite band is.  You lose value when you make poor decisions.  What type of private time do you have?  Fight the good fight; keep the faith.  Don’t lean to your own understanding.  If you are a Christian, if you are Christ-like, you will be in private and in public; your private life and your public life will be one and the same.

                             Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd