ROM 27 Highly Successful Christians
SERMON TEXT: ROMANS 12:1-2
Introduction
Secrets for a successful Christian life
A. Total Dedication
B. Radical Separation
C. Personal Transformation
Turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. If
you have not memorized these verses I would encourage you to do
so. These verses will be verses that will mean a great deal to
you every day of your life. Let me read these verses and as you
keep your place in your Bible we'll look at these verses together
this morning.
1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
I want to talk with you a little while today on the subject,
"Secrets of Highly Successful Christians". Success is something
that all of us are interested in and it is a subject which we read
a great deal about in secular material. A lot of books have been
written in recent years on how a person can be successful and a
great deal of the definitions of success today have to do with
making a lot of money or have to do with being successful in the
particular business or activity of your life. People who are
successful today are considered to be those who have achieved some
amount of financial independence. Or they have excelled in the
leading of a great company. Or they are outstanding in some field
of sports or athletics. Much of what we read today about the
subject of success has to do with these particular areas of
endeavor. And of course there are many Christians, outstanding
Christians, who have been successful by these definitions of
success.
I'm thinking about a man who lives up in Jonesboro, Georgia,
he's a member of the First Baptist Church there, who started a
chain of fast-food restaurants. He's a man of strong convictions.
He's a man who believes that the Lord's day is a holy day so he
does not open his business on Sunday. Because of his faithfulness
to the Lord and because of the skill which God has given to him in
business Mr. Truitt Cathey has made very famous and very
prosperous the Chick-Fil-A enterprise. He is a Christian and he
is a highly successful Christian in the realm of business. In the
realm of athletics there are Christians who have been very
successful. Mark Price, the fine young Christian ballplayer for
the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a Christian who is strong in the Lord
and he's been successful in his athletic endeavor.
But I want to talk to you today in a little bit different
realm. I want to talk to you not about success as the world looks
at success but I want to talk about success as it really is. You
see, there are many people who have become very, very successful
in secular ways and by definitions which I have already given and
they've come to understand that this kind of success does not
really make you a happy individual. Do you know Lamont who was on
"Sanford and Son"? Do you know him? Lamont. His real name is
Demond Wilson. Well, Demond Wilson said this, "Like many people I
have been deceived. I believed that the great American dream said
that once you've obtained success and a certain amount of
notoriety and money happiness would come." And so he walked away
from success in the show-business realm, he walked away from self-
desire, and has embarked in an evangelistic ministry. He's come
to understand that there is more to success than making a lot of
money and becoming famous in your particular field of endeavor.
I'm talking today about highly successful Christians. I'm
talking about that truck driver who's a member of our church who
has learned how to be what God wants him to be in his daily life.
I'm talking about that medical doctor I hear about just about
everywhere I turn who has learned to use her medical profession to
serve the Lord Jesus Christ in being a blessing to others. I'm
talking about that department store clerk who quietly goes about
his business and yet he is a highly successful Christian because
he has found out what success is by God's standard of measure. I
had never noticed until I was reading and studying these
particular verses that these verses we're going to look at today
have to do with the subject of success. Because, you see, when
you come to the concluding statement in verse 2 it says, "that you
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God." And there you have the key.
You see, success is finding and following the will of God for
your life. Someone said inside the will of God there is no
failure, outside the will of God there is no success. If you find
God's will for your life and if you follow that will for your life
then you are a very successful Christian. You see, there are many
people today who have not come to understand that God's plan is
the thing that is the very best for their life. An architect has
a conception for a magnificent mansion. An artist has a design in
mind for a gorgeous painting. And the God of this universe, who
loves us far more than we could ever imagine, has a purpose and
has a plan for our life, and when we find and follow the will of
God for our life we are very successful Christians.
Now these verses have given to us some clues that tell us,
some secrets, how to become a successful Christian. These verses,
as you understand, are beginning a brand new part of our study of
the book of Romans. We've looked at the first eleven chapters.
The first eight chapters had to do with the great theme of
salvation, what God has done to make it possible for us to be
saved, how God has made it possible for us to get out of the mess
we're in, sin, and to be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ
because of His death on Calvary's cross. In chapters 9 through 11
he's dealt with the great theme of the sovereignty of God and he
shows us the sovereignty of God in particular as it relates to his
own people, the Jewish people. But now, in chapter 12, verse 1,
he begins by saying, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God..." Now he is taking us through the gateway of
surrender to move us onto the pathway of service. When you find
God's will for your life you will discover that it is God's will
that you live for Him on a daily basis in a life of self-sacrifice
and surrender and service. And so I want to just lay before you
secrets of highly successful Christians.
Secret number one is found in verse 1: Total Dedication. If
you want to be a success in your life you've got to understand
this secret: total dedication. God requires of every believer to
be successful in his life that there be total dedication. I'm not
talking about 50 percent dedication, I'm not talking about 90
percent dedication, I'm not talking even about 99 percent
dedication, I'm talking about being totally, 100 percent,
committed to Jesus Christ. I beseech you therefore, brethren.
The word "beseech" there is a loving word, it is a word of appeal.
It's as if Paul put his arms around us and lovingly makes this
appeal. And he says, "I appeal to you, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren." Now when you see the word "therefore" in the Bible you
always ask yourself the question, What is the therefore there
for? And in this particular instance the therefore points to what
has previously been said. And he says, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, the abundant mercies of God. You
see, in these opening chapters of the book of Romans Paul has just
been laying before us everything that God has done for us in His
love and in His mercy.
For instance in Romans chapter 3, verse 24, it says we are
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Jesus Christ. And in Romans 5:8 the Bible says that God commends
His love toward us. And in Romans chapter 8, verse 1, it says
there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And
in Romans 8:39 the Bible says there is no separation between us
and the love of God. It's as if God has bombarded us with His
mercy, with His love, and with His grace. And so Paul says on the
basis of these mercies of God, on the basis of everything God has
done for us in giving us His Son the Lord Jesus, I appeal for
total dedication.
I'll tell you what it would be like; it would be like some
cold winter night up in the mountains of North Carolina, snow
covering the ground, a very cold, a freezing, frigid night. And
there in the middle of the night you hear a faint knock on your
door and you go to the door and you open the door and there
standing shivering in the cold is your dear mother. And you look
at her and you say, "Mother, what are you doing out there in the
cold?" And she hovers what little garments she has around her and
she says, "Son, it's so cold out here. I'd like to come in and
get warm." It's as if she would say to you, "Son, I want you to
remember that I took the red out of my cheeks and I put it into
you that you might have life, and by these, let me come in." And
it's as if she should say, "Son, do you see these gray hairs on my
head? These hairs are gray because of the sacrifices I have made
for you, and by these I appeal, let me come in." By the mercies
of your mother she appeals for the right to come in. Well, you
see, that's what God is saying in this opening statement in Romans
12. God is saying, "On the basis of all I have done for you, on
the basis of the gift of my Son the Lord Jesus Christ, I make this
appeal for total dedication." I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God.
Now what is total dedication? Well he says in this verse that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now the word
"present" there really means to offer as a sacrifice. The
background of the word there is not as familiar with us as it
would have been to his original readers. You see, it's an Old
Testament picture, it's a picture taken out of the Old Testament
sacrifices. It was something that all of them would be familiar
with because they saw it take place every week. In those days a
priest would take a sacrificial animal and he would go to the
altar where there was a fire burning on top of the altar and he
would take that sacrificial animal and he would lay it on top of
that altar and it would remain there until it was totally
consumed. That's the background, that's the picture that Paul is
painting for us here. He is saying, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice.
Now, you know, this verse, if you'll examine it very
carefully, is really a rather startling verse. Because what he's
saying here is, he's saying, "I want you to take your body and I
want you to present it as a sacrifice totally dedicated to God."
Now normally we don't think about it in terms of the giving of our
body. Did you know the Bible has a great deal to say about the
body? For instance in Philippians 1, verse 20, the apostle Paul
says, "that Christ may be magnified in my body". And in First
Corinthians 6:20, again the Bible says, "glorify God in your
body". And did you know in Second Corinthians 5:10 the Bible
says that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and
that we will give an account of the deeds done in our body? You
see, this matter of total dedication hits us real strong because
he is saying to us here, "What I want you to do is to take your
very body and I want you to present it as a total, dedicated
sacrifice to God." Friends, the Lord knows that when He gets your
body He's got you. The Lord knows if He can get your hands, what
you do with them, your eyes, what you see with them, your ears,
what you hear with them, your mouth, what you say with it, He
knows that if He gets your body He's got you. And so the appeal
for total dedication this morning is the appeal that we present
our body a living sacrifice.
Now the tense of the verb here indicates a once-for-all
commitment. It means that there has to be that crisis experience
in our life. It means that there has to be that time when we
consciously, intelligently dedicate our all to the Lord. I want
to ask you a question this morning. Have you made that total
dedication of your body to the Lord? Has there been that time in
your Christian life when once and for all you came to understand
that the demands of following Jesus Christ are total and that God
wants everything you have, everything that you are, everything
that you ever will be totally dedicated to Him and you have made
that once-for-all sacrifice to the Lord? If you haven't made that
commitment this morning I'm praying that before we leave this
place that you will have said to the Lord, "Lord, here I am; I lay
my all on the altar for you." You see, you'll never really find
and you'll never really follow the will of God for your life until
first of all there is total dedication.
Now there's a once-for-all aspect here but there is also a
continual aspect. In the Old Testament days there was a tendency
sometimes for those animals to get over to the corner of the altar
and so they had some utensils and some things they used in the Old
Testament called flesh hooks, and they would take those flesh
hooks, they were kind of like giant forks, and they would put them
into the meat of that animal and they would pull that sacrifice
back to the center of the flame. And so, you see, when the Bible
says we're to present our bodies a living sacrifice, not a dead
sacrifice but a daily, continuous giving of our life as an act of
worship to the Lord, there is the tendency sometimes for our lives
to get off the center of the flame. And so every day of our life
there needs to be the re-affirmation of our total dedication to
the Lord. Every morning we ought to begin our day by saying to
the Lord, "Lord, I give you these hands; do what you want with
them today. Lord, I give you my feet; walk where you'd like to
walk today. Lord, I give you my lips; speak as you would have me
to speak today. Lord, I give you my eyes; let them see what you
want me to see today. I give you my ears; let them hear what you
want them to hear today." Total dedication is a daily lifestyle
and we find and we follow the will of God as we daily dedicate our
life to the Lord.
Now notice what he says. He says that kind of dedication is
holy and it means set apart. He says that kind of dedication is
acceptable. What he's saying is that's what pleases God. You
see, God couldn't be satisfied with anything less than total
dedication. I mean what could be pleasing to God that's not total
and complete. That would be just like some man here saying to the
young lady he's engaged to and getting ready to marry and he's
saying to her, "Now, Sugar, I just want you to know that when we
get married I'm going to give myself to you. Sugar, I want you to
know that I'm going to give myself to you 51 weeks out of the
year. But now, Sugar, there's just one week out of the year
there's this old gal that I've been hanging around with for
several years, and I'm going to give you 51 weeks but one week out
of the year I'm going to spend with that old gal right there."
Now let me ask you, how many of you would have accepted that kind
of commitment? But, you see, that's the way a lot of people want
to do Jesus. A lot of people want to say to the Lord, "Lord, I
want to give myself totally to you but now really, Lord, there's
just one little area over here I'm not going to dedicate that to
you." But, you see, the Bible says that total dedication alone is
that which is acceptable unto God.
And then he says it is your reasonable service, or your
reasonable worship. And the word "reasonable" here really is
where we get the word "logic", or reasonable; that which conforms
to logic. And what he's saying is there is a winsome logic about
this whole matter of being totally dedicated to the Lord. You
see, when you really get to thinking about it the only thing that
is really logical for us to do is to totally dedicate our life to
the Lord. You think about what Jesus did for us at Calvary, and
think about those nails in His hands and in His feet, and think
about that spear that was thrust into His side. Think about that
crown of thorns that was pressed down upon His brow. And when you
consider that Jesus Christ gave everything He was for you and for
me on Calvary's cross, whether we're totally dedicated or not
wouldn't you agree with me that we ought to be?
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
Secret number one for a highly successful Christian life is total
dedication. And I'm going to ask you to make that kind of
commitment today: to present your body a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God.
But now let me give you secret number two. Look on down in
verse 2. The second secret to a highly successful life is Radical
Separation. "...be not conformed to this world..." Radical
separation. Now I use the word "radical" advisedly. I am not
saying here that separation is to be something that makes you an
oddball or a fanatic. I am not talking about your separation
being something that you go around boasting about and bragging
about. You know there are some Christians who become so proud of
what they do not do that they never get around to doing anything
for Jesus Christ. If separation in your mind is just composed of
the things that you do not do, if you think that's what it means
for a Christian to be totally committed to the Lord, just that you
don't do a whole lot of things, there's an old fence post back up
on a farm in Georgia where I came from that's the best Christian I
ever met. That fence post don't do nothing, it just sits there
all the time.
But I'm talking about a different kind of separation. I'm
talking about a radical separation that is pictured here in the
statement of Paul when he says, "be not conformed to this world."
And the word "world" there could be translated "age", to this
current age. He's not talking about the beautiful world of nature
which God has given to us, nor is he talking about the world of
people which the Bible says God so loved so much He gave His Son
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is talking about the aggregate opinion
and value systems and moral standards of this world that are
contrary and opposed to the standards of God as revealed in the
Bible. The scriptures have a great deal to say about this world.
For instance the Bible says this world has got its own god:
Satan is the god of this world. And the Bible says that this
world has its own standards and its own fashions. And the Bible
says to the believer, "Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world." And it talks about its lust of the flesh, and
it talks about its lust of the eyes, and it talks about its pride
of life. And, you see, this whole world system in which you and I
live has its own standards of behavior, and it has its own ideas,
and you and I are living in that atmosphere every day of our life.
You see, when we get saved God does not take us immediately to
heaven, He keeps us in this world. And Jesus said in John chapter
17 that we are in this world but we are not to be of this world.
And, friends, that's where the trick comes in isn't it? It's how
to be in this old world and not be of this world. Because you
know what, friends? This world has got a very, very seductive
advertising system and if you're not very careful you'll get
yourself conformed to this old world.
I think the best translation of this I ever read was made by
the Phillips translation where he translates this statement this
way; he says, "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its
mold." You see, this world has got a mold, the culture in which
we live has got its standards, its value system, and its purpose
is to seduce you and me so that we be conformed, so that we get
squeezed into the mold of this world. You know what I'm talking
about don't you? We're supposed to just be like everybody else is
supposed to be. We're supposed to think like everybody else
thinks. Let me ask you the question: where do you get the things
you believe? I mean what forms the opinions that you have? Are
your opinions formed by what you see on television or what you
read in magazines and books, or are your ideas formed by what God
says in His Word? And I want to tell you what, friends, very
often they are very, very different. Where do you get your
standards for your behavior? Where do you decide what your
amusements will be? On what basis do you determine what you will
and you will not do? Do you do it on the basis of the opinion
polls? You see, friends, we are living in a moral atmosphere today
which takes the position that just whatever the majority thinks
that makes it right. Ladies and gentlemen, what the majority
thinks does not make it right.
Now, you know, none of us wants to be odd and none of us wants
to be some kind of screwball or nut, and so we all pretty well
generally dress the same and pretty well go by the styles and the
fashions of the day, and that's not altogether bad, unless those
styles or fashions are immodest or identified with behaviors that
would be inconsistent with the Christian life. But when you come
to the matter of your personal behavior, and when you come to the
matter of your personal morals you are in dangerous territory when
you allow this old world to squeeze you into its opinions and to
squeeze you into its patterns. Be not conformed to this world.
And, you see, Christians get in trouble when they allow this to
happen to them.
The classic example in all of the Bible is the Old Testament
character of Lot. Lot was a saved man, he was a righteous man, he
was a just man, the Bible says, and yet he got caught up in
Sodom's lifestyle, he got caught up in the current morality of his
day. And I want to tell you what, friends, he lost his wealth, he
lost his family, he lost his personal peace, he lost his testimony
when he allowed himself to be conformed to this old world. Be not
conformed to this world. Don't let the world around you squeeze
you into its own mold. And so you need to do some personal
evaluation this morning. You need to ask yourself the question,
Why do I believe what I believe? Did you know that the majority
of American people today don't think there's anything wrong with
pre-marital sex or even extra-marital sex? Did you know that?
And did you know that today it is just common behavior for people
to have children outside of the bonds of marriage? In fact today
they kind of brag about it. Expecting a child? Are you going to
get married? "Well we haven't talked about that yet." God have
mercy on us in America! And then we wonder why we're in the mess
we're in in America.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you what, friends, I want
to tell you what, you'll never go wrong when you go God's way, but
when you get out of sight of God's way you'll always go wrong.
And the reason we've got so many people today who're all messed up
in their minds and their lifestyles are all out of kilter is
because we have abandoned the standards that God has given us in
the Bible and we are conformed to this world. This world, bless
your heart, is going down the tubes straight to hell! What we
need is to get Jesus in our hearts and go straight to heaven.
Amen and amen. Secret number two: be not conformed to this
world...radical separation. What I'm talking about is is that you
just make up your mind you're going to live your life according to
the standard of God's Word, and that you are not going to allow
the world around you to determine what you believe, to determine
how you behave, and to make the decision about what kind of
lifestyle you'll follow.
Secrets of highly successful Christians. Secret number three:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see,
secret number one is total dedication: you make that decision that
you'll totally dedicate your life to the Lord. Secret number two
is radical separation: you refuse to allow the world around you to
conform you. Secret number three is personal transformation: be
ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now I want you to
look carefully at the word "transformed" today. We have an
English word that comes directly from this original word in this
verse. It's our word "metamorphosis". Now some of our high
school students in Biology class are familiar with the word
"metamorphosis". Metamorphosis is one of the most beautiful
processes there is in the world of nature. You see, in
metamorphosis what happens is this: you've got an old wiggly,
fuzzy caterpillar. You know what I'm talking about? An old ugly
caterpillar. And then there is a process that this caterpillar
goes through. This caterpillar will begin to wrap a cocoon around
itself and it just wraps that cocoon around until finally that
caterpillar is just totally engulfed in this cocoon.
And then there is a process that goes on on the inside of that
cocoon known as chrysalis, and a change is taking place on the
inside. A process is going on. Something is happening to that
caterpillar. And then after a while that cocoon begins to kind of
wrinkle up and shrivel, and in a little while that cocoon begins
to open up, and all of a sudden you see something beginning to
emerge from that cocoon that has beautiful wings. And then in a
little while that process continues and out pops from that cocoon
a beautiful butterfly, and what was once an ugly, wormy
caterpillar reaching for the dirt is now a gorgeous, beautiful
butterfly reaching for the sky. And, you see, that's what
metamorphosis is, and that's the word that is used right here: be
ye transformed, be ye metamorphosized, if you please.
This word was also used when Jesus was on the Mount of
Transfiguration. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ was up there
with Peter, James, and John, and the Bible says that the Lord was
transfigured before them? Same word. That means everything that
Jesus was on the inside was manifested on the outside. You see,
Jesus was God, and yet when Jesus walked on this earth He cocooned
himself in a robe of human flesh. And yet in that moment on the
Mount of Transfiguration all of His glory that was within was
manifested on the outside. Same word. And when God says we're to
be transformed it means that there is a process God wants us to go
through whereby our life on the outside is changed by a
transformation that occurs on the inside.
You see, God always works from the inside out. Salvation is
an inside job. That's why it won't do you any good to give up
certain habits and cut off certain things for your life. That's
not going to do you any good; because, you see, all you do if you
just cut off this and cut off that is something else will grow in
its place. But if you can get something to happen on the inside,
I mean if you can have a change going on in the inside, sooner or
later that change is going to work out to the outside. And, you
see, the secret of the highly successful Christian life is
allowing God to change you from the inside out by being
transformed [look at it] by the renewing of your mind. You see,
that's where it all goes on is right up here in your mind. This
world tries to change your behavior by conforming you to its
thought patterns, changing your mind from the outside. God
changes you from the inside, He renews your mind.
I want you to look at a couple of places. I want you to look
over at Colossians chapter 3 for a moment. We'll be back here in
just a minute but look over at Colossians chapter 3 and I want to
show you that word "renew" in verse 10. Look at what he says; he
says,
10. And you have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge...
What he's saying is our mind is renewed in knowledge. What kind
of knowledge is he talking about? Well he is talking about the
knowledge which we receive from the Bible, from God's Word. You
see, that's why it is so important that every day as Christians,
if we want to find and follow God's will and be successful in the
Christian life, we give ourselves to a daily diligent discerning
study of God's Word. As we study the Word of God our minds are
renewed.
I read some time ago that the average American watches
television five-and-a-half hours per day and that the average
Christian reads his Bible five minutes a week. And then we wonder
why we're conformed to this world and not transformed by the
renewing of our mind. You see, the Bible is like a mirror, that's
what James said. And as we look into the mirror of God's Word we
see ourselves, we see things there that ought not to be, we see
inconsistencies, we see flaws of character, we see old habit
patterns that we brought from the old life into the new life that
need to be changed. And so we see ourselves in the mirror of the
Word but we also see the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the purity of
His youth, and we see the power of His cross, and we see the
promise of His coming. And, you see, as we look at the Word of
God God renews our mind and God begins to change it on the inside
as the Word of God does its work in our heart.
Turn to Second Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18, and it
says,
18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [or in
a mirror] the glory of the Lord [that is, here's a
Christian, he opens up the Word, it's like a glass, like
a mirror; he sees the glory of the Lord, he sees Jesus,
we] are changed [same word: metamorphosis] into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
You see, the child of God looks into the Word of God, he sees the
Son of God, and he is transformed by the Spirit of God.
Now then turn to Titus chapter 3 and let me show you what
happens. And in Titus chapter 3 I want you to see verse 5.
5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit;
You see, in the Bible, in God's Word, we see the Son of God and
the Word of God reveals Jesus to us, the Spirit of God reproduces
Jesus in us. We are renewed by the Holy Spirit, and so when he
says be transformed by the renewing of your mind he's saying as
you study the Word of God and see Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit
of God to make you more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ, then
your life is transformed.
And here's the result: Romans 12:2, the last statement: that
you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will
of God. You know what he's saying? When you have in your life
total dedication, radical separation, personal transformation,
you'll find and will be following God's will for your life. And
you'll find three wonderful discoveries about God's will. Number
one, you'll find it's good. You'll find God's will is good. Oh,
listen, what if you had a child that came to you and said, "Dad
[or Mom], I love you so much I want to do anything that would be
pleasing to you today; I'm available; here I am; I totally commit
myself to you. I'll do anything you want me to do today." What
would you say? "Boy, I'm going to make this the worst day that
kid ever had in his life."? No, no, no. What you'd say is,
"Isn't that great? I'm going to make this the greatest day my son
[or my daughter] ever had." God's will for your life is good,
friend, it's good.
But then he says it's acceptable, and it's the same word used
back in verse 1: it's well-pleasing. You see, God's will is not
only pleasing to God for you it's pleasing to you. There is
something about the will of God, doing God's will in your life,
that brings the greatest amount of pleasure and joy in your life.
Jesus was sitting at the well and the disciples, it was time to
eat so the disciples had gone into town to McDonald's to get
something to eat. And Jesus was sitting there and the woman at
the well, the woman of Samaria came, you remember that? And Jesus
started talking to her about getting some water that she'd never
get thirsty again, and that woman got her a good drink of that
water and she got saved. And I'm telling you they were just
having a hallelujah time there, and about that time here come the
disciples, they've got mustard all over their beards, and they've
got sacks full of hamburgers and french fries, and they come to
Jesus and they say, "Jesus, it's time to eat." And Jesus said,
"Oh, I've got something to eat you don't know about." And they
look around and they say, "Has a vending truck been out here
somewhere? Has somebody brought some food out here that we don't
know about?" Jesus said, "Oh, no, no. My food is to do the will
of Him that sent me." You know what Jesus was saying? God's will
brings you the greatest amount of joy than anything else can do.
And then God's will is perfect. That is, God's will is
complete. You give yourself to total dedication, you give
yourself to radical separation, you give yourself to personal
transformation, and you will find that God's will will be good, it
will be pleasing, and it will be complete in your life. Now if
you have never received Jesus as your Savior the first thing you
need to do this morning is to give your heart and your life to
Him. I'm going to ask you today to come to Jesus Christ. God's
will for every lost person in this building today is that you
might be saved.
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