We're turning to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and we're reading from the verse 51. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and the verse number 51. The Apostle Paul says, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. We'll end our reading at the end of the chapter. Let's bow, please, in a word of prayer together. Our gracious Father, we thank thee for thy word. We rejoice in the great prospect that awaits the child of God when the last trump will sound. and time shall be no more. We thank Thee that we shall be changed, changed like unto Him. We shall take on His resemblance. We will bear the image of the King. We'll all be changed, those who are redeemed. We bless Thee, Father, for the prospect that is before us. But while we wait on earth, we pray that we may be industrious and busy for thee. Grant, dear God, the stirring up of our hearts as we consider the time for this old world is drawing to an end and there must be labor done if we are to win the crown. We recognize that we will of all eternity to celebrate our victories. but only time to secure them. Help us, therefore, we pray. Minister to our hearts through thy Spirit. Fill me now with thy Holy Spirit. I pray this in Jesus' precious and holy name. Amen. Over the last number of weeks, we have been considering together what the Bible says about work. And in those messages, we have focused our thoughts really on our secular work, the work that we involve ourselves in, in order that we might provide for ourselves, in order that we might make a living, and also provide for those who are dependent upon us, such as our children. Well, today I want to shift the focus away from our secular work, and I want to think with you about the greatest work of all, the work of the Lord, the Lord's work. I want to move from thinking about secular work to the thinking now of sacred work. Now, as we read the Scriptures, we come to understand that God is doing a work in this world, the work of building his church. He would say that to his disciples there in Matthew 16 verse 18 when he said, future tense, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now with omnipotent power and unlimited resources at his disposal, the God of heaven could very easily accomplish that work by simply speaking the word and it would be done. However, God has purposed in His own inscrutable wisdom to see that His work is accomplished through His people. It's the work of the Lord that Paul speaks of in the closing verse of 1 Corinthians 15, in which he reminds the Corinthian saints that they were to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding, and then the statement, in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." And so today I want to simply deal with a number of matters connected with this topic of the work of the Lord and my involvement in it. I want to say in the first place, I want to speak to you about a fallacy that needs to be addressed. When we think about the work of the Lord, a fallacy that needs to be addressed. The fallacy that needs to be addressed is the false notion that the work of the Lord is only for those who have entered into some kind of full-time ministry. Whether that is a minister, whether that's a missionary, or whether that's a full-time evangelist. When Paul gives this counsel here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58 about the work of the Lord, I want you to notice to who he addresses this particular statement. Paul doesn't say in this verse 58, Therefore my fellow ministers, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. He doesn't say, therefore, every faithful missionary of the gospel, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. He doesn't say, therefore, all full-time evangelists, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. But rather, he says, therefore, my beloved brethren, Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. You see, Paul addresses the entire family of God when he uses and employs this term, brethren. He indicates by using the term that the participants within the work of God are not confined to some kind of elite group within the body of Jesus Christ, but rather that all members of God's family are to give themselves in some way to the work of the Lord. Mr. Spurgeon remarked, we should all have a work to do for our divine master. True, he said, our everyday labor or secular work ought to be so done as to render honor to his name, and we thought about that last week. But in addition to that, he said, every Christian, every Christian should be laboring in the Lord in some sphere of holy service. Now, don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean that we're all to resign from our jobs tomorrow and enroll into the Whitefield College of the Bible. That may be what God would have you to do. Maybe God has been dealing with someone's heart with respect to full-time ministry and involving yourself in such a way. But, brethren and sisters, there are ways in which we can involve ourselves in the work of the Lord that does not require such formal theological training. If you're in doubt of that, you just consider all the various ministries of this local congregation in which you could involve yourself in in some way. I think about the prayer ministry, how key that is. I believe it is the key ministry of the congregation. the prayer ministry of the work of God. You could join by joining yourself, coming to the times of prayer before the church services. There seems to be a hemorrhaging of people in these days with regard to the place of prayer. You could come on a Wednesday night to the place of prayer. You could join us, brethren, this Thursday night for the men's monthly prayer meeting, or what about that early morning prayer meeting, the first Lord's day of every month? You could join with us. Prayer is a great work and unfortunately at times there are times when it seems that the laborers are so few when it comes to the prayer ministry. What about the Sunday school ministry? There are times when we need individuals to stand into the gap. Gaps need to be filled when teachers are sick or maybe they've got the care now of a newborn within their family and they've had to step aside for a number of years and the call goes out and very few ever respond to the call from within the church membership. It's a work to which you could involve yourself in. What about the open air ministry? Always the need for people to stand and be supportive of God's servant as he preaches the word, whoever that is. Always a need for people to stand and to be a witness for Jesus Christ within our own community on the main street of our own local town here. What about the children's ministry? We're so very thankful for the faithful, for the faithful band of workers that we have. What would we do without our bus workers? What would we do? 20 children, I believe, from Portland Owen would have been left at their homes on Friday night if it hadn't been for a couple of bus workers getting home from their work and getting onto a bus. And some 16 children from Cullabacke. And they're those, and they've evolved themselves in that work down through the years. How thankful we are for that. But brethren and sisters, there's a need for more. We're, as it were, trying to put out and dampen the fires on Friday night. I think I find myself in three different places on Friday night to try and control children and just to be there, just to be a presence and just to let them be aware that they need to listen as the Word of God is being preached and there's a great need for that and we can find ourselves across the world helping others. But what about the local children? What about the local children? Oh, the need for children's workers. What about workers to sit, as I said, in the bus, to sit among the children, workers to participate in the meeting, to spread the load. I tell you, the load is heavy for people. There needs to be the spreading of the load, the spreading of the load. What about the youth ministry? Again, we're very thankful for our youth leader. Would it not be good for another adult to join and to help, to assist in that? For young people, for you to rise up and to take the baton forward. The music ministry, thankful again for those who employ their talents in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. The media ministry, the men in the media team, what a tremendous work they do. Tremendous work they do. But again, new blood needs to come into the work of God to help and to assist. Others will maybe move on. Others have moved on within that particular ministry. And there's something for young men to involve yourself in. What about the visiting ministry? COVID-19, I know, has restricted many. with regard to going into care homes, into private dwelling places of the elderly and the sick within our congregation. But, brethren and sisters, as the things start to ease a little, who'll take on the task of visiting their fellow brethren and sisters? They're isolated, they're lonely, they're unwell. The outreach ministry, there's nothing to stop you to get a bundle of gospel tracts and put them through the doors. of this town or through the area in which you live? What about the ministry of encouragement? Thank God our young people are doing that in these days. But there are those who need to be encouraged in the work of God, within the family of God. The sick, the elderly, the widow, the clinically depressed. What are we doing to encourage such people? Are we ministering to them? James said what pure religion was. Listen to what he says in James 1.27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. to visit the fatherless and the widows and their affliction. to keep himself unspotted from this world. Do we know anything about pure religion, true religion, sound religion? The Savior in Matthew chapter 25, he speaks about those who evidenced that they were his sheep. And how did they evidence that? They evidenced by giving meat to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, refuge to the outcasts, clothing to the naked, visiting the sick and the imprisoned. What about these works of mercy? Could we not involve ourselves in these? I tell you, there's many an avenue open for a person to work within a local congregation. But brethren and sisters, let's spread the net a little wider. Let's think about serving Christ denominationally. We have got to consider Christ outreaches. They're starting again in this particular month. What about you giving a Saturday over to serving the Lord Jesus Christ in North Samaria? Young people, the Youth Council, I believe, have three different outreaches planned for this summer, one in Northern Ireland, one in Donegal, and one in Tavistock, of all places. You could give yourself a week and give the Lord a week. serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And at times our mission board, they send out work teams to certain mission stations to help with practical needs. For example, today there is a team of people from over the province. They have come together and they're working in Uganda And what they're doing is that they're installing an electrical switchboard that will facilitate the mains electricity to come from the road into that mission compound, whereby they are no longer reliant on solar power. That's what's happening. Not today, obviously, they'll be worshipping the Lord, but that's what has been happening over the last week. You see, in God's work, there is ample work for the person who wants to find it. And the wonderful thing is that God has equipped you with the skill set and the abilities to do something for Him. It's really simply finding out what that task is and then doing it with your might. The words of Daniel marches him comes to the mind, let none hear you idly saying, there is nothing I can do while the souls of men are dying and the master calls for you. Take the task he gives you gladly. Let his work your pleasure be. Answer quickly when he calleth. Here am I, send me, send me. Is that your response today? There is a fallacy that needs to be addressed, the fallacy that God's work is only to be done by a certain band, an elite group within the work of God. I've said it before, no one man can do everything and no one band can do everything. All must be involved in some way in the work of God. What is that task? What is that sphere of service? That is for you to seek God concerning, and then you give yourself to the task that God gives you. The second thing that I want to say about the Lord's work, we're not thinking about our secular work, we're thinking now about this, the greatest work. When you think about a territory that needs to be possessed, a fallacy that needs to be addressed, and now a territory that needs to be possessed, Whenever God came to review the progress of the children of Israel in possessing the promised land, he said to Joshua, these words in Joshua 13 verse 1, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. And brethren and sisters, we can take that out of its context and we can look out into our nation today, and I'm just speaking about our province here in Northern Ireland, and certainly can we not say when it comes to the church's mission of spreading the gospel, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. We must never forget that God's work is a global enterprise. We can get so blinkered, we can get so parochial that we forget that very fact, that the work of God extends beyond the borders of this nation, and it reaches into the four corners of this world. Today, in many of the darkest regions of this world, there are brethren and sisters, and they're holding forth the light of the gospel. They're spreading the gospel light. And thank God for that. The Lord Jesus Christ made it clear in Acts chapter 1 and the verse number 8 as to the boundary or the confines in which we are to confine our labors for God in this world. And it's amazing where that boundary is, the uttermost part of the earth. That's the confined. It's not within the six counties of Northern Ireland. That's not the boundary. It's not the island of Ireland, it's not the British Isles, it's not Europe, but rather this, the boundary, the realm, the sphere, the territory in which we are to serve Christ and to make Christ known extends to the furthest flung corners of the world, to the uttermost parts of the earth. But ye shall receive power, Jesus Christ said. after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." There are many verses that speak of this fact that God's work and the spreading of the gospel is to penetrate every corner of the globe. Matthew 24, 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. Matthew 28, 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Mark 16, 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Luke 24, 47, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Brethren and sisters, this worldwide program to get the gospel into every nation is not some kind of pipe dream of our God that we'll never see to its fulfillment. Nor rather, the Scripture makes it clear that whenever the elect will be gathered together on the final day, that they will be gathered, and I quote from Scripture, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. That's where they'll be gathered from. We think of that great company that stands before the throne. Revelation 5 verse 9, and they sung, And you saw Him, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain, and Thou wast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Before the throne of God on that great day, there will be those from every kindred, every tongue, every people, and every nation. And for that to happen, brethren and sisters, the gospel must reach them. the gospel must get to them. The great commission of Jesus Christ does not restrict the publication of the gospel to any one class or any one nation. We are to take the gospel into all the world, and therefore, brethren and sisters, there is much territory. There is still much territory that needs to be possessed. Let's be honest and let's be frank before the Lord today. How much territory has this local congregation taken for God in the last five years? How much territory? What inroads Have evangelical churches made into the loyalist and republican heartlands of our nation? Ever think of that? What inroads have we actually made into the loyalist and the republican heartlands of our nation? Have we made any? Brethren and sisters, the gospel, it's still the power of God unto salvation. So the question is, why then aren't lies, why then aren't homes, why then aren't communities being transformed by the gospel? And as we look at our own town, and as we look at our own surrounding district, we would have to confess that there is very much land yet to be possessed. They die. They die. without Christ, without hope. And 2022 will give this congregation the opportunity to take ground for Christ as we make our way towards the mission in October. But brethren and sisters, we must not wait till October. We must be busy for Christ now. We must make inroads into the kingdom of darkness now. there is a territory with regard to the work of God that needs to be possessed. Note in the third place, in relation to the Lord's work, there is an inability that needs to be expressed. There is an inability that needs to be expressed. God's work done God's way, by and through God's power, is how any Christian worker will accomplish the most in their labors for God. You see, whenever we come to work for the Lord, there needs to be a realization on the part of the worker, of the laborer, of the servant of Christ, that they in and of themselves are not sufficient of themselves to do anything for God. Just think of the many Bible characters that come to express their own inability for the task that God entrusted them with. I thought about a number of them. I'm thinking about Moses. I thought about what Moses would say to the Lord when he was tasked with leading the children of Israel out of the house of bondage and into the land of promise. This is what he said. He said, Who am I? Who am I? That I should go on to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Who am I? He's expressing his own inability. I think about Gideon. He would confess to God when he was told that he was going to save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. He said this, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Here's a man who is self-effacing. Here's a man who understands his own inabilities, his own incapability when it comes to the task that God had ordained for him to do. I think about Jeremiah. He testifies to God when he was informed that he was ordained to be the prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah said this, "'O Lord God, behold, I cannot speak. For I am a child. Solomon, he confessed when he came to understand the gravity of what it was to be now Israel's king, he says, I am but a little child, and I know not how to go out or to come in. Or what about Hezekiah when he surveys the encroaching army? He has to admit to God we have no might against this great company, and neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Or the apostle Paul when he came, to understand the great work entrusted to him. He says in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. All of the above, whether it's Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, Solomon, Hezekiah, the Apostle Paul, all were conscious of their personal inability when it came to the work that God had purposed for them to do. Mr. Spurgeon again, he said, the most healthy state of a Christian is to be always weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits. I tell you, whenever we come to see our own inadequacies, I believe then, brethren and sisters, we're in a ready state to do the work of God. See, the person who thinks themselves to be capable for the task entrusted to them really is incapable of doing God's work. You see, the Christian worker, always conscious of their weakness, their incapacity, of their inabilities, they have to admit, so then is neither he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God giveth the increase. You see, the person who finds themselves incapable, they're going to realize and they're going to say salvation is off the Lord. and they're going to say that, without God, I can do nothing. And yet, though we are unable in and of ourselves to do God's work, thank God He makes us able by His Spirit, by His grace. Maybe this is what's holding you back from doing the work of God that God has ordained for you to do, His purpose for you to do. Maybe this is what's holding you back from getting involved in the work of God. You sense your inadequacy. How would I be able to do that? And yet I would say you're exactly the person that God would want to use. His strength is always made perfect in our weakness. Thank God for that. Fourthly, in relation to the Lord's work, there is a consistency that needs to be manifested. A consistency that needs to be manifested. When speaking about the Lord's work, Paul exhorts these Corinthian believers, note the words in verse 58, to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. You know, the people that you have to admire the most in God's work are the people who constantly stay at it. Those who are just always there, always faithful, always present, consistent, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, consistent elders, faithful Sunday school teachers, committed children's meeting workers, dedicated caretakers, dependable organists, devoted media team members. They're all to be respected. They're all to be admired. But sadly, consistency in God's work at certain times can be rare. And there's so many factors that really militant against consistency within the work of God. I thought of a few of them. Could we not say that discouragement militates from being consistent? Just getting discouraged. How many ministers and missionaries and Christian workers, they leave their calling because they've just got discouraged along the way? I think of Elijah, or what about Jonah? What about Jeremiah? These are great men, heroes of the faith, and yet they came to a stage in their life that they got so discouraged with the work of God that they wanted to relinquish their duties. Some of them actually wanted to have their lives to end. In the case of Elijah and Jonah, take away my life, got discouraged, and discouragement can lead us to discouragement in the work of God. Well, what's the point? What's the point? And then the devil. He militants against working for God. The wicked one certainly doesn't want us to be consistent in the work of the Lord. No, he wants us to be unreliable. He wants us to be inconsistent. He wants us to be undependable in our service for God. What about defeat? It militants against being this consistency. There are times when we do sin. Times when we fall in our Christian lives and we feel, well, God's never gonna use me again. Never gonna use me ever again. And yet did Peter not fall? Did God not use him again? What about John Mark? There was a time in his life when he wasn't consistent, dependable, and yet at the end of the journey, Paul would say, bring John Mark, he's profitable for the ministry. You saw benefit in bringing John Mark back in to the work of God again. Paul admitted that he was wrong, I believe. Whenever he said that, whenever he wouldn't take him at the beginning, when Paul and Barnabas had to separate one from another, or Silas, he separated one from another. What about distraction? That can militant against being consistent in the Lord's work. You know, life has its many cares. You know them, I know them. There's family care, there's personal care, there's care of the work, of our secular work, and all of those distractions can steal away our time. But we really never give ourselves to serving the Lord Jesus Christ. We serve ourselves and we forget about serving Him. The one who bled and died for us. The one who went to the tree. The one who laid down his life. And He gave us all who came to minister and not to be ministered on to giving us an example. And fortunately at times if we do serve the Lord that service can be often sporadic and only if it ever fits into our social calendars. The people in the days of Haggai had to be rebuked by the prophet. They had plenty of time. It wasn't that it wasn't that they hadn't plenty of time. No, they had plenty of time. The problem was that they didn't manage their time. Rather, they invested the time that God gave them to beautify their own house, to make sure that they had all the lovely furniture and the lovely sealed roof, to have all the house in its proper place. They had time to do that. They had time to beautify their own homes, but they left God's house lying waste. Let me read what Haggai the prophet came and said to the people. Haggai 1 verse 4, is a time for you, ye to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste. God's house lies waste. I wonder would Haggai's rebuke Would it resonate today within the church of Jesus Christ? You have time to beautify your own homes, but what about God's house? I'm not talking about physically beautifying God's house. I'm speaking about beautifying God's house by offering up the sacrifices of prayer and praise within the house of God. That beautifies God's house. And then I thought about a fifth thing that militates against consistency, and that is desertion. Can I say that it is difficult to remain on the field of service when others leave it? But it is not for us to abscond when others choose to do so. The work of God must go on, and we must remain in post Until God directs us elsewhere, we must remain at post. Obey your last orders. Remain in post until God directs you elsewhere to search and to see others stopping their involvement within the work of God. It's so easy to join them, isn't it? Is that not what Peter did? Peter said, I go a fishing. The record of Scripture tells us, and the others disciples said, we also go with thee. We can take others away from the work of God. Don't be that person, desertion. Instead of this, brethren and sisters, we are to be consistent. This is what is being taught here. Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. When others are unstable, when others are wavering, we remain steadfast. We remain unmovable. The work of God. Finally, and very quickly, we've thought about a fallacy that needs to be addressed, a territory that needs to be possessed, an inability that needs to be expressed, a consistency that needs to be manifest. Fifthly, an urgency that needs to be exhibited. an urgency that needs to be exhibited. In what context does Paul write this counsel regarding one's personal involvement within the work of the Lord? Well, contextually, Paul wrote this counsel in light of the coming again of Jesus Christ. If you remember what we read from the verse 51, we read about the sounding of the last trump. The last trump was the last bugle, signal that was sent out for the marching army to up camp and to move out. This was the last move, the last trump would be sounded. And then we read about the resurrection that follows the last trump. And so the end of time is in view here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And in light of that fact, in light of the fact that we are now in the last days, In light of the fact that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, urgency needs to be exhibited by all within the body of Christ with regard to the Lord's work, because either death or the appearance of Jesus Christ will see to it that our labors will cease, and so we must be industrious for Christ now. The night cometh. when no man can work. There is no work or device in the grave. Our death, his return, will see to a cessation of our labors on earth. What have we done for him? What have we done for him? I'm sure you all have seen or heard concerning the tragic death of Stephen Crawford there in the Sandown congregation, 28 years of age, went to climb a mountain in the week that's passed tragically. He fell to his death. His life is over. He was at church last Sunday night. He's in the house of God. Little did he think as a 28-year-old that his time on earth would be over by the Tuesday of this week past. What about us? What if death was to come to us? Have we done anything for him? After all that he has done for me, have I done anything for him? Could I do something for him? Could I do something for him? Of course you could. Of course you could. We often sing the hymn, let us labor for the master from the dawn till setting sun. But do we do it? Well, to give ourselves to the work of God, we're to live in light of the Savior's imminent return. There's urgency. There's urgency, brethren and sisters. Time will soon be no more. We must give ourselves to the task. We must give ourselves to the task of making Christ known. And thank God as we give ourselves to that task with energy and zeal and enthusiasm and with vitality, thank God there burns within our souls this promise that our labor is not in vain. in the Lord." What a blessing to know that. My labor is not in vain in the Lord. God's work, are you involved in it? Are you involved in it? If not, let me encourage you to get involved in the work of the Lord. Let me encourage you to give yourself to the greatest work that any person could ever engage in, the Lord's work, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. May the Lord be pleased to bless this word to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer together. Let's just take some time You pray, believer, that God will direct you, guide you in what he would have you to do to give yourself to the work of the Lord. Maybe there has been a slackness Start today. Don't say, well, next Sunday or this week. Today. Start today. I'm going to give myself to this, the work of the Lord. I know that I have my work to do through the week, but I'm going to give myself to the Lord's work. I'm going to give the Lord his rightful place. I'm going to put him first. I'm not going to give him second place, the Lord's work. This is why he saved me. He saved me to give myself to his work. Whatever form that service takes, then you give yourself to it. And don't just do the minimum. Oh, too often we do the minimum, child of God. Go the second mile. And whenever you get there, go the third and the fourth mile. Give yourself to the work of God. For the night cometh when no man can work. Our gracious Father, our loving God, In light of the coming again of Jesus Christ and in light of the great sacrifice of Calvary, we give ourselves publicly in this pulpit to the work of God. We give ourselves to the task of making Christ known, preaching the gospel, of reaching the lost. Help us, Lord, we pray. We confess our inability, not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Come now, work in these hearts, the hearts of all who gather here today, and come and meet with us around the table as we remember thy dying love and the great work that Christ did for me upon the tree. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.