Turn with me if you would now
to John chapter 14. John 14. I want to bring a word
of encouragement to us tonight. I pray that after entering into
what we're about to enter into, I pray that we will have a recharged,
renewed strength to continue in the things that have been
laid on us. Give me just a minute. Normally
I go right into our text, but give me just a minute tonight
and let me tell you a few things and then we'll go into our text. The work of God's ministry does
not end. It does not end. If we are in the ministry, we
are in the work. Every now and then it's a little
bit bigger. Sometimes it's a little bit smaller, but if we're in
the ministry, we are in the work. Now I'm not talking about a work
for our salvation. I'm not talking about a work
for anything other than thankfulness because of salvation. I'm talking about the work. This is the work. The work is
us going out and telling everybody we can that the work is finished. That's the work. It's the ministry
of declaring the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's the work. Paul told Timothy, he said, if
a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. I always quoted that for years.
I quoted that, the last word being thing. He desires a good
thing. And then I read it one day and
said, it doesn't say that. It says a good work. That is not just
talking about the office of a pastor or the task of preaching. The
apostle Paul commended many men and women. As you read through,
it's precious to me how many men and women he commended for
their labor with him in the work of the ministry. Spiritual things need to be done. They need to be handled. They
need to be, um, dealt with. Spiritual things need to be done.
Physical things need to be done. All kinds of things need to be
done. And if it in any way, shape,
or form pertains to the gospel that we preach and believe, it's
the work of the ministry. It doesn't matter if a man is
called on to preach or to pray. It's equally the work of the
ministry. Those, neither one of those two
jobs stand above the other one. It doesn't matter if a man is
called on to set up the microphone or speak into it. It is equally
the work of the ministry. That illustration has been given
so many times of if the Lord sent two angels from heaven to
earth and commanded one to rule it, and the other one to sweep
the streets, neither angel would care what job he got because
the work is not unto them, it's unto him. It doesn't matter what
we're doing. It does not matter what we're doing. The work is
unto the Lord. And I've mentioned this so many
times, but from keeping the nursery, to mowing the grass, to cleaning
the building, our Lord said, if you get a cup of cold water
in the name of being a disciple, You'll get the same reward as
the profit you poured it for. Whatever is done in the service
of our God and for the purpose of our worship of him and for
the promotion of the gospel that we preach and for the benefit
of the brethren that we've been joined into this union with.
You know, our Lord said, in as much as you have done it unto
them, you have done it unto me. If we entertain a brother or
a sister in our home, that's the work of the ministry. That's
the work of the ministry. Whatever is done for Christ's
sake and for his people's sake, that's the work of the ministry.
It's a work that all of God's particular people have been called
to and blessed with. And that's what I want to stress
blessed with. We have been given the work. We've been given the heart to
do the work. We have been given the strength
to do the work, all of this by God. We have been given the knowledge
of the fact that God is the one who has given all of this to
us, and He's the one who's doing all of this in us and for us. We've been given that knowledge. Anything that we do for Him,
and I'll put that in quotes, anything that we do for Him is
really Him doing it. in us for Him. It's Him doing it for Himself. And He gets the glory for that.
Whatever we do, He gets the glory for it. But here's the thing.
We get the blessing of having His means pass through us. And that's what I want us to
understand in whatever we do. And that's what I want our children
to understand. We have, for a long time, we
had a bunch of little girls here. That's all we had here was little
girls. But now we have little boys.
And do you know what I see in these little boys? I see future
grass mowers. I see a lot of them. And in these
little girls, I see future nursery keepers. I really do. And what I want us to instill
in them is, these things are not dreaded tasks. This is the work of the ministry. Nothing in the service of God
Almighty is a dreaded task. This is the work of the ministry.
We don't have to cut the grass at the Lord's house, the house
of the Lord, David said. We get to cut the grass at the
house of the Lord. Could you imagine, honestly,
could you imagine if we did not have a place full of people who
had been given a like-minded, like precious faith? Could you
imagine if we did not have a place where we could come and worship
God together? Could you imagine how much we
would truly long for a work that we could be a part of? We would,
if we didn't have it, we would. Now we are obviously very much
involved in work right now. And the greatest physical task
laid on us at this moment is Obviously, we are and we have
been for quite a while now. And I'm gonna cringe a little
bit as I say this, but I'm saying this on purpose, okay? We are
preparing a house for the Lord. We don't do anything for Him.
I'm gonna preface and preface and preface. God forbid, He does
it all, He gets the glory for it all. But we're preparing a house for
the Lord. And the point of this message
is not what we're doing for him, it's what he is doing for us
and what he has done for us in the person of Christ our Savior.
But what his work in us has caused all of our hands to do with all
of our might is we're trying as hard as we can to prepare
a place for the Lord. and I cringe, all right? The house that we're building
is being prepared. That's what we're doing. Our hands are being used. What a blessing, what a blessing. Our hands are being used to prepare
a place where God's name can be worshiped. and declared and
witnessed to the people of the city. We are preparing a place
where his name can be worshiped and declared out and witnessed
to the people of the city. And I wanna encourage us in the
work. And I pray that through this
word that we're about to read, I pray God will strengthen us
to push through and finish this work and every other work he
lays on us from here on out. We have been working on preparing
this place for quite a while now, and this is how it goes,
all right? This is how it has gone. One man cuts, another man nails it on, and another man comes in and
sweeps up behind him. Cleans the mess up behind him.
That's what we've been doing. One group of men and women, and
I want to acknowledge the women. You women have been troopers. Y'all are out working the men.
Y'all are out working me for sure. One group of men and women
will come and work on a Saturday, hard on a Saturday, and another
group will come in and bring lunch. desserts, encourage, strengthen. We have been working together. We have been preaching together. We have been giving together. And I'm going to tell you this,
we have been happy together. We've been happy. It has been
hard. Please don't misunderstand me. The work has not been easy. There
are still, we have had problem after problem after problem.
We still have problems and headaches. We had one come up about two
days ago. It's just problem after problem. And it's just issue
after issue. And it's like, when are the issues
gonna end? Don't misunderstand me. It has
been hard. We were, some of us were over
there last night. And I was, I mean, when I got
there, I knew I was not on my A game. I was dragging, I think
we were all dragging. And one of the men said, fellas,
I think I have to go home. I'm just exhausted and I need
to go get into bed. As soon as he said that, everybody
said, thank goodness. I told him I was going to be
a team player and I was going to try to hang in here until
everybody wanted to go home. I want to go home. I'm ready
to go home. I'm exhausted. I'm ready to go
get in the bed. I am tired. This has been hard. This has been a lot of work. You know, it takes a lot of work
to have a pew to rest in. It takes a lot of work. But I'll tell you this, it has
been a blessing. It has been our privilege and
our blessing to be a part of this work that God has provided
and raised up in this place at this moment in time. And in feeling led to give you
a word of encouragement and a word of strength to help all of us
press on and finish this place that we have been preparing to
worship our Lord Jesus Christ. And in thinking about what is
the most encouraging word I can think of, I thought about this
line in this verse of scripture. And as soon as I thought of this,
I thought, that's all the encouragement we need. This is all the encouragement
we need. Just listen to this and see if
you don't think that this is all the encouragement we need.
See if this doesn't cause you to say, this is all worth it. He is worthy of everything that
He's caused us to do, and this is all worth it, and that's all
I needed to hear. That's all the encouragement
I needed. Look with me if you would at the last line of John
14, verse two. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
go to prepare a place for you. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. I have a work that I'm going
to do and it's not going to be easy, but I'm going to press
through all the way to the end. I'm going to finish the work. What more motivation do we need
to prepare this place for Him and for His glory and for His
honor and for His worship than hearing Him say to us, I have
prepared a place for you. Our Lord has prepared a place
for us. He's prepared a place for all
of His chosen people and For just a couple of seconds here,
I want us to just think on and glory in where that place is,
really, where that place is, really. And I'm praying that
this won't just be an outline. I pray the Lord will honestly,
honestly bless us and cause us to glory in this. Read it again,
the end of verse two. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. When we read this, we naturally
think of his kingdom. We think of him preparing a place
for us in heaven. And he has, he has. But if we want to really dwell
on the glory of this, then let's enter into the fact that the
reason we have a place prepared for us in heaven is because,
this is the reason, it all boils down to this, it's because He
prepared a place for us in Himself. When He said in that moment right
there, I go to prepare a place for you, and when we now say,
He prepared a place for us, that place is in Himself. This is God. This is God. This is the all ruling, all controlling
sovereign of the universe. We are the all sinning, all rebelling,
nothing's and nobody's, but he prepared a place for us in himself. This has just been amazing to
me. I pray the Lord will bless you with this. Like he's blessed
me. For the sake of time, we're not gonna turn. I'm gonna quote
to you. Let me just quote. I wrote down a few ways that
he has prepared a place for us in himself, all right? Just listen
to these. Psalm 139, verses 17 and 18,
says, how precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. How precious are thy thoughts
unto me? This is Jeremiah 29, verse 11.
It says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord. thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you an expected end. Now just think about this.
Our Lord prepared a place for us in his mind and in his thoughts. And again, this is the all ruling,
all controlling sovereign of the universe. The one who is
reigning and ordering and doing. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Why would you take the time to
look on our frame and remember that we are dust? Why would God
do that? It's because he prepared a place
for us in all of the thoughts that he has in his mind. Let
me say it this way, okay? In the mind of God Almighty,
There is a place reserved for us. Just amazing. There is a place prepared and
a place reserved in the mind of God Almighty for us. All right, listen to this scripture.
Jeremiah 31 verse 3 says, The Lord hath appeared of old unto
me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. Our Lord prepared a place for
me, for us in his heart. You know how you say there's
a special place for you in my heart. Our Lord prepared a place for
us in His heart. Psalm 103 says, like as a father
pitieth his children, the Lord has prepared a place
for us in His pity, the pity of His heart. He was moved with
compassion because He prepared a place for us there in His compassion. He included us. He reserved a
place for us in His mind, in His heart, in His love, in His
will, in His desire, in His purpose. Listen to this scripture. Colossians
2, verses 9 and 10. It says, in the Lord Jesus Christ
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and you are complete in Him. Our Lord prepared a place for
us in His body. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. Why did He do that? It's because
He prepared a place in Himself to do that for us. He prepared
a place for all that sin. Listen to this one. Revelation 1 verse 5 says, now
unto him that loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. He prepared a place for us in
his own blood. I just adore the thought of that. I just absolutely adore the thought
of that. When our Lord gave the ordinance of his table to the
disciples, he said, this is a token. This is what he was telling them.
He said, this is a token of my covenant to you in my blood. He said, as often as you drink
this, you remember the fact that you have a place reserved for
you in my blood. That's the place I want to be. He prepared a place for us in
His mind, a place in His thoughts. He prepared a place in His heart,
in His love, His will, His desire, His purpose. He prepared a place
for us in His body. He prepared a place for us in
His blood. Colossians 2 says, that He baptized
us into His death and into His resurrection and into His life.
He prepared a place for us in His death. We were there with
Him. Paul said, I was crucified with
Christ. I was right there with Him. Why? It's because He prepared a place
for us. Place in His death. He prepared
a place for us in His resurrection. Risen with Him. Risen in Him. And He has prepared a place for
us in His eternal life. He made a place for us in His
eternal life. Now, His eternal life, that does
include having a place prepared for us in His kingdom. We're
going to be in His kingdom with Him. And I just, I just really, I don't believe
my eyes have ever seen anything or my ears have ever heard anything
or my heart's ever imagined anything that could describe what that's
going to be like. Our Lord has a kingdom. He truly does have a kingdom.
There is an actual place. But listen to this, this is just
not only has he prepared a place for us in his kingdom, but hold
your place right here and turn over to Ephesians chapter three. I love this. Ephesians 3 verse
14, it says, for this cause, I bow my knees
unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. Not only has he prepared a place
for us in his kingdom, And let's just enter into how glorious
and wonderful that will be. But not only has He prepared
a place for us in His kingdom, He has prepared a place for us
in His family. The family of God. Verse 16 says
that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. He has prepared a place for us
in his glory. Yes, he has prepared a place
for us in glory, but he has prepared a place for us in his glory. In John 17, he said to the father,
the glory you gave to me, I've given it to them. Unimaginable. Verse 16 goes on to say, well,
he says that he would grant you according to the riches of his
glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner
man. He's prepared a place for us
in his spirit. Verse 17 says that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith. That you being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. He's prepared a place for us
in his fullness. Verse 20 says now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think
according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. Amen. Does seeing that strengthen
you like it strengthens me? Honestly, honestly, does that
comfort your heart like it comforts my heart? Does that give you
that strength to just press on in the ministry, whatever? You
know, we have it in our mind that in about three or four weeks
it's going to be over. Oh, it's going to be, it's not
going to be over. I don't want it to be over. I
don't. I pray that the Lord would keep
us in the work of the ministry as long as he'd have us on this
earth. But I pray he'll give us the
strength to press on for his glorious sake. Because of everything
that he's prepared for us and done for us, I hath not seen,
that's what we read in the scripture reading, ear hath not heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that
he has prepared for those that he has caused to love him. If that encourages you, turn
back to John 14. Let's close with these three
verses right here. John 14, verse one says, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. Can't wait. Come quickly. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.