Anything that we do for God is "a great work", and I believe God intends for us to do it well and to stay with it until it is completed. "The measure of a man's character is what it takes to stop him." Many people start out doing a work for God, but they do not finish. This city is full of people who were once involved in the work of God; some of them are merely pew sitters now, and some of them are not even attending church at all.
What stopped them? Were they unsaved? I am not sure that everyone who quits serving God in an active manner is someone who has never been born again, although this is, no doubt, sometimes the case.
There are some things that will come up in our lives to hinder us from doing the work God has for us to do. These are also things that will hinder the work our church is doing.
I. The Devil Can Cause The Work To Cease
(1 Th 2:18) "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us."
A. He will hinder through many of the things I will mention in this message.
B Satan can't get our soul, but he can ruin our service if we aren't vigilant.
1. Our soul is saved for eternity.
2. We cannot lose our sonship with the God the Father
3. However we can become useless in His service.
4. Jesus is our great example.
5. Note: Matthew 4:1-11
C. Satan can't affect our future in heaven, but he can affect our fruitfulness here.
1. What kind of testimony do we have with those around us?
2. On the job….with the family….at school?
3. Our effectiveness as a child of God can be hindered by succumbing to the enemy's temptations.
II. Discouragement Can Cause The Work To Cease
(Deu 1:28) "Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there."
A. Family members can discourage us.
1. They will often give advice that is contrary to the Word of God.
2. Even believers will do this!
3. Some may treat you differently because of your desire to honor God and serve Him.
4. It can be very discouraging to see the ones you love … reject your witness and go on the road to an eternity without Christ.
B. Friends can discourage us
1. Many people have reaped the result of close friendships that have ended in disaster.
2. A true friend would never encourage you to do that which is wrong.
3. The important thing is to determine that we will have around us those who demonstrate true friendship.
(Prov 27:17) "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."
C. The flesh can discourage us
1. Note Paul's lament in Romans 7:21-24
2. If we allow it to be so, we can become discouraged by who we are and what we think.
3. Note: We are sinners saved by grace!
III. Disappointment Can Cause The Work To Cease
(Acts 15:37-38) "And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. {38} But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work."
A. The loss of fellow workers is disappointing
1. Living in the past.
2. Think back to individuals who have had a great impact upon your life as a believer.
3. Now, they are gone…they have moved to another area or perhaps they are in eternity.
4. Someone asked why do staff leave this church?
B. A lack of fruit is disappointing
1. Visible fruit that remains is what we are all looking for, but we will not always see it.
2. The S/S class that doesn't meet the goals.
3. The activity that wasn't the success that we thought it should be.
4. The person that we were so anxious to come to Christ didn't.
5. All of these can be disappointing to us and cause the work to cease.
C. Limited fellowship is disappointing
1. There was a reason for God to tell the Hebrew believers not to forsake the assembling of themselves together.
2. When we withdraw from the fellowship of other believers, we begin to focus on ourselves.
3. We starve ourselves spiritually by failing to come and hear God's Word.
4. It is the Word of God that will make the difference in our lives….not how we feel!
IV. Distraction Can Cause The Work To Cease
(2 Tim 4:10) "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia."
A. People get distracted by problems
1. All of us have problems.
2. Sometimes we may find ourselves so overwhelmed that it seems there is no hope.
3. That is where Paul was in Romans 7.
(Rom 7:24-25) "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? {25} I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
B. People get distracted by pleasures and profit.
1. The Lord warns us not become entangled in the things of this world.
(Heb 12:1) "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"
2. He reminds us that it is all temporary.
(2 Pet 3:10) "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
3. Only one life and soon twill be past…only what's done for Christ will last.
(Neh 6:3) "And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"
Why should the work cease? It shouldn't. Be encouraged tonight in the promises of God's Word.
(Gal 6:9) "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."