February 7, 2010 Sermon by Pastor JR. Fields

A few weeks ago during our Wednesday night Bible study, I was teaching from the Book of Proverbs. I made a statement on how important it is for the Children of God, to walk under the lordship of Christ, or to walk in the will of God. I believe they are one in the same.

Today, I want to focus on the lordship of Christ. To quote a statement from Rev. Charles Stanley….”Many people accept Jesus as their Savior, but avoid making Him Lord.” I ask you, “Can He be Savior and not Lord? Can He be Lord and not be Savior?” I say to you, "He cannot and will not.” For the next several Sunday mornings, I hope you will allow me the opportunity to show you in scripture what the Bible says about the lordship of Christ.

What does it mean to call Him, Lord? Sometimes we preachers will tiptoe around the subject in fear of offending someone. I am warning you up-front…I am not going to do this with these series of messages I will be bringing to you, because I want to give it to you straight from God’s word. This is what preaching the lordship of Christ is about.

Being under the lordship of Christ simply means that we acknowledge Him as the supreme authority; and not only do we acknowledge Him, we must confess that He holds domain over His kingdom. Let us think about it in a secular sense. In the earthly kingdom, the king has the final say. All of his subjects have to bow down and worship him. I wonder how good we are doing when we worship our King.

I like the song the Gaither’s wrote a few years ago ”The King is coming, the King is coming, Thank God, He is coming again.” Actually, He is already here. Jesus said, “The kingdom of Heaven is already at hand.” For those who have confessed Him as our Lord and Savior, we are a part of the Kingdom. We have dual citizenships. We are holding a citizenship in America, and for the blood-washed, we have citizenship in Heaven.

One of the things you will find lacking in God’s church is obedience. We know better and our heart tells us differently, but we lack obedience to the Lord. That is a clear-cut indication as to whether we are truly a part of the kingdom. When we do not obey the Supreme authority, something is missing. There is a "flaw in the slaw." Many people want to be a part of the kingdom, but have a problem giving worldly things up. I have heard people make the statement, and it makes me sick every time I hear it, ”I just want to get to Heaven by the ‘skin of my teeth.’” Does that not make you sick to hear someone say that? Folks, there is more to it than getting there by the “Skin of your teeth.” We want to be a part of the kingdom, but do not want to yield to His authority. Let us use the marriage covenant. I will use myself as the example. “I am married and still involved with other women.” If that would be the case for JR. Fields:

Why is is important for a person to stay faithful to their spouse? To be otherwise would be fake, because you would not be loving them the way you should. You would not be giving them the attention they should have. You would not give them the respect they deserve. Therefore, if I am legally married and unfaithful to the one I love, I would make our marriage a fake. We can use that same illustration with the Lord. We bow our heads and ask the Lord to forgive our sins and come into our heart. Then we go on our way doing the same old things, enjoying the same worldly pleasures and we end up two-timing God. If that happens, your relationship with God is fake. To have this kind of relationship with God is a mockery. It is a mockery to the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

In a series of sermons, I plan to point out seven steps that will determine if we have enough evidence to convict ourselves in a court of law whether Jesus is Lord of our lives. Our salvation is verified by our works. It is true works alone cannot get us to Heaven, but our works is evidence of our salvation.

How do I know Jesus is Lord of my life?..."I am a Christian, preacher. Do I really need to ask that question?" My answer to that is, “I think we all need to look in our spiritual mirror and ask ourselves that question.” Matthew 7:21 tells us that… Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.

I have a revelation for you. God has a plan for you. God has a plan for little Jaylyn. I think she will handle money because she is very good at bringing the birthday money up here and putting in one coin at a time where it belongs. I believe William will be a traveling evangelist. You see, God has a plan for all our lives. It may not be to preach, to teach, to sing, or to play an instrument, but God has a plan for you. He may just want you to be the best dad you can be, or the best mother. However, the plan must be met by walking in God’s will under the lordship of His Son, Jesus.

God’s plan may sometimes require you to make changes in the life you are living. He may sometimes nudge you to get you to change things around the way He wants you to. When God called me to preach, He had to give me one of those nudges. The factory where I was working was downsizing and I found myself without a job. So, I said, “ Okay God, I’ll step out. I don’t know much and I have no experience in being a preacher. I am green as a gourd, but if that is what You are calling me to do, I'll do it." The rest is history.

Sometimes when things happen we think it is God’s way of punishing us. Don’t think that. It might be God’s way of giving you an all new and better direction, one He has chosen for you. To do anything else will be outside the Lord’s will. So I am thinking, maybe it is better to answer Him the first time He nudges you. Remember when you were a kid fighting with your brother or sister and your parents said, “Don’t make me come in there?" You didn’t want them to come so you would calm down and do what they said. Same with God. He may tell you, “Don’t make Me have to nudge you again.”

I have stood over many caskets and I don’t know if the people were in Heaven or Hell. Sometimes I was certain they were in Heaven and sometimes others have given me reason to wonder. I don’t know anyone’s life but my own so it is not for me to judge, but to go back to Matthew 7:21 you can’t just speak it, you’ve got to live it. God’s word is not a buffet. It is not something by which you can pick and choose a little of this and a little of that. It must be all or nothing. God knows our hearts and we are living short of what we are capable of. When we accepted Him as our Savior, He wants to be Lord over all our lives. Bro. Dwight Coffman said, ”You can go to Hell from a Baptist pulpit just the same as you could from a bar stool.” There are many things that will keep people out of Heaven. One important thing is because they will not allow the Lord to hold lordship over their lives. They are forever trying to make a deal with God; Things like, “God, I will serve you, but my money is mine. I will serve you, but I have a little secret locked away that belongs to me and I don’t want to get rid of it just now. God, I will serve you when I have the time and don’t have anything else to do. Lord, I want to go out to this night club just for a short time, but if you don’t want me to go just wipe that nightclub off the map. But honestly, I won’t be gone long." Or, maybe you will not say anything and think He will not notice that you went. What are you thinking! Of course, He knew you went. Do you think God is not aware of your little secrets hidden away. Do you think He is not aware of every move you make? Do you think He is not aware of what you thought five minutes ago?

Remember this verse…. Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in Heaven.