Published by admin on 20 Nov 2009 at 02:32 pm
ARE WE PROFITABLE SERVANTS?
Last night I had a dream that was very frightening. Some would insist it was a torment from the devil. But this was from the Lord, and He showed me the end that is spoken of in the Bible. Let me describe the dream for you. I heard a series of very loud booms, five of them in rapid succession, louder than anything I’ve ever heard in my life, coming from the sky. It shook everything. Immediately I looked up, and saw many large white smoking trails and fireballs falling from the sky. Explosions all around, it all happened so quickly out of nowhere with no warning, there was only time to yell “Jesus, save me!”. There was no place to hide or escape. In a few moments it was over, everything went black.
Later in the morning I told my wife about the dream, and the Lord prompted me to look at 2 Peter 3:9-12, which says,
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
I’m not meaning this to be a “doomsday prophecy”. Indeed, it is described in the Bible as an upcoming event, and who shall prevent it? But it sure got me to thinking about my purpose in living. As a person who confesses Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, I have to ask first, why did the Lord Jesus come to this earth? The answer came from His own mouth, recorded in Luke 19:10: For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Earlier this week I was praying with some people about Jesus’ purpose for coming. He spent three and a half years training up twelve disciples to continue His ministry after His crucifixion. What was He training them to do? to seek and to save that which was lost. We often try to muddy up the waters by saying, Well, the Lord has called me to do thus-and-thus. While it is true that the Lord sets each of us in the place where He desires in the Body of Christ, is the Body on a different mission than the Head? The Head’s mission is to seek and save the lost. Should not the Body be in total agreement?
Who are the lost? That would be anyone, anywhere, who does not know Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. While the Lord may use each of us in our own personal capacity and gift to serve the Body, still, the overall purpose is unchanged. We are to be about winning souls for the Kingdom of God. If winning souls for Jesus is not our burning desire and conviction, then we need to truthfully ask ourselves, are we really His? Or are we merely giving Him lip-service, but doing our own thing? I’ve been on the other side of the world preaching to the lost, yet, they are all around me, even in my own neighborhood. Dare we say we are serving Christ Jesus, having never won a soul to the Kingdom of God in however many years we have been saved? God forbid.
A few years ago I fell on my knees and asked our heavenly Father to give me a heart to seek and save the lost. Sadly, I must admit, though I love the Lord, till that time winning souls was not real high on my list of priorities. But I recognized the need to change that.. I was called to minister in healing, and knew so, and I was content to teach and minister about healing, THINKING I WAS BEING A PROFITABLE SERVANT. But the Lord showed me, that if my burning desire was not to win souls for Him, I was really deceiving myself, for HIS purpose is to seek and save the lost. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
This may be a hard bite to swallow for many Christians, but here is the ruler by which we must measure our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God. Are we winning souls for Jesus? There is no middle ground here, either we are, or we are not. It is the end of all excuses.
You may say, I’m called to be an apostle. That’s fine, but win souls around you for Jesus while you’re establishing churches. Are you called to be a prophet? Fine, but if you’re not winning souls, you’re as tinkling brass. If you’re called to be an evangelist, then go for it. But don’t just preach Jesus, live Jesus. If you’re called to be a Pastor or Teacher, you can do that, but use it to win souls! You see, a gift or calling is only a tool. The job never changes: you are to be winning souls for Jesus until you leave this life.
Now, back to the dream: the return of Jesus will come without warning, and be upon you in a heartbeat. You won’t have time to “get ready”, you’d better already BE doing His work when He comes, or you will be judged an unprofitable servant. If winning souls is not your priority, then get with the Lord Jesus right now and ask Him for a change of heart, to have HIS heart and HIS priorities operating in your life. There isn’t any more time to waste.
You wouldn’t play football while swinging a baseball bat, would you? Swinging a baseball bat has its proper place, but only in baseball. By the same token, you wouldn’t want to come before Jesus only to hear Him say, You played a fine game. Only it wasn’t MY game…it was yours. Mine is winning souls, while yours was being ….. (you fill in the blank: prophet, teacher, etc), and you won no souls for Me.
There are some of you who are Christians, who have been seeking deliverance from oppression, but haven’t seen it happen yet. Maybe you’re waiting to be healed or set free from debt. Some have been waiting for years. Could it be that the Lord Jesus is waiting for you to forsake YOUR agenda and pick up HIS first? I’m not saying “thus saith the Lord”, but it is certainly food for thought. For we know the Lord Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And if we are truly His, then our heart’s desire should be no less than His, and we should be bringing forth fruit accordingly. Only then will we be profitable servants!
Craig on 24 Nov 2009 at 5:39 pm #
Pastor Jerry
Terry and I were so convicted by this article. As Terry and I spoke we have maybe shared the gospel less than 10 times in the past 10 years. As a deacon I was pretty busy for Jesus this week bringing food to a family with the flu, distributing Thanksgiving baskets to widows and widowers and ministering to a friend whos wife has just had a stroke but I have not once declared salvation to a non believer
Terry and I have just prayed that our love for the lost would grow in us to a point that we have to share the gospel and many would come to know His grace and mercy as we have during Terrys cancer
Thank you,
Dee on 07 Dec 2009 at 10:47 am #
Thank you for this word. I want to do the Lord’s will for my life but always feel like I can’t break through.