Missionary Racal

[0:00] Welcome to this week's message from Faith Bible Church of Lake Charles.! We're excited to share a practical Bible-based teaching that we hope will encourage you and strengthen your faith.

[0:13] ! Thanks for listening. Now, here's today's message. Chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 55 to verse number 58.

[0:38] If you would, I would like to request you all to stand as we give reverence to the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 15, 55 to 58.

[0:50] The Bible says in verse number 58, 55, I should say, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

[1:02] 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.

[1:13] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be 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.

[1:26] Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for giving us your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, for your Word.

[1:37] We thank you, Lord, for gathering us in this beautiful place this morning to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we ask you to bless us in your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

[1:48] You may be seated, please. In our text, we see that the Apostle Paul is encouraging the Church of Corinth to be steadfast, to be unmovable, and to always abounding in the work of the Lord.

[2:07] And we all know what the work of the Lord is. It is preaching the Gospel to every creature. Amen? Before he left, that's the only thing he said.

[2:20] I want you to go to the whole world to preach the Gospel to every creature. And we have a lot of ministries. And all of those ministries, we have one ultimate goal or purpose, is to preach the Gospel to every creature.

[2:37] He said that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. Not just any labor in anything, but it is very specific, the labor in the Lord.

[2:50] Then he gave them two reasons why. That their labor is not in vain in the Lord. And I believe, yes, the book of Corinth, it was not written to us, obviously.

[3:04] It was written by Paul to the believers in Corinth. But it is also written for us. That's the reason why God preserved this book, preserved this word, because it is also applicable for us this morning.

[3:20] So this message, these two reasons, would also be applicable to us this morning. Number one, our labor is not in vain in the Lord because Jesus rose from the grave.

[3:36] He rose from the grave. Why is that pastor? Pastor, in the time of Apostle Paul, there are two prominent religious sects called the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

[3:51] And I believe some of them were truly converted to Christianity, but some of them were not converted. I know, I believe that the devil, the enemy, has done a lot of damage to Christianity, in joining Christianity than opposing it.

[4:16] Amen? Our testimony, our reputation has been damaged because, not because of those who are outside, but those who are inside.

[4:27] And I've been ministering to the police, and they have what we call, our government have a program called Moral Recovery Program.

[4:40] It's a good thing that our government recognized it, that, hey, our morals is not good. We need it to be recovered, you know? So it's a presidential proclamation that was in 1990s.

[4:51] So we can go to public schools or any departments and, you know, and talk about morality. But the good thing is they allow us to use the Bible.

[5:05] Not just any book, but the Bible, God's Word. And I told the police, you know, sir, they have this internal cleansing. Their reputation has been bad because of things.

[5:19] And I told them, you know what, that the reason is not because of the rebels, not because of the criminals. It is because of the people, the person that is in you.

[5:31] So they are trying to restore their, what we call, image. So cleansing. But my friend, the same in Christianity. I told them, any organization, religious or secular, its image is destroyed, not because of those who are outside, but because of those who are inside.

[5:54] And the enemy knows that. There are many false believers, false teachers in our churches. Just to, I know that you know what I mean.

[6:07] Amen? And Paul was one of them. There was a man named Saul. He is a Pharisee. But thank God, he got saved. Amen? And he became the Apostle Paul.

[6:20] But there is another group called the Sadducees. In fact, Apostle Paul was dealing it with the Pharisees in the book of Galatians. That these Pharisees, they came to the church of Galatia, and they are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

[6:36] And Paul had to deal with them. And here in Corinth, he is dealing with the Sadducees, who came to the church of Corinth, and they said, you know what? There is no such thing as physical resurrection.

[6:48] Because they don't believe physical resurrection. And Paul said, oh my. It is a serious thing. Why? Because it is an indirect attack of the gospel of Christ.

[7:00] Because if there is no physical resurrection, then Christ did not rose from the grave. And the believers in Corinth, they got distracted, discouraged.

[7:11] And Paul said, no, no, no, no. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Keep on keeping on. Why? Because Jesus really rose from the grave. Our faith is not vain.

[7:24] Our preaching is not vain. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord. That's why he said, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

[7:35] 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. And that's the gospel.

[7:47] That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He paid the penalty of our sins, and he defeated death through his resurrection from the grave.

[8:08] And that's, I remember the song that says, Because he lives, amen? Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

[8:21] Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future.

[8:32] And life is worth the living just. Because he lives, our labor in the Lord is not in vain because Jesus rose from the grave.

[8:47] Number two, our labor in the Lord is not in vain because Jesus will return from heaven.

[8:58] And he mentioned about it, the rapture in verse number, look at your Bible in verses, verse number, okay, verse number 51 to 53.

[9:19] Verse 51 to 53. The Bible says in verse 51, Behold, I show you a mystery.

[9:32] We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in a twingly one eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

[9:46] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. He took about the rapture. When Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first, and we will all be raptured.

[10:03] Amen? And I remember this, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Every time I run out of English, I go to the Bible. Amen? To keep me going. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

[10:15] 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse number 13 to 17. Okay, very quick this morning. The Bible says in verse number 13, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

[10:35] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

[10:55] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

[11:07] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

[11:20] To meet the Lord in the air. Oh, I love meeting people. When I arrived here, I flew in through Houston, and my friend from De Quincey, my flight has been delayed, so like an hour or two hours, I think, and I was so tired, and like 26 hours of, you know, trip with the layovers, and man, and I was so happy to meet him in the airport, you know, finally.

[12:01] And I'm looking forward to meet my kids. I haven't seen them since I came here, so I have to stay. I have you this morning, and then I had churches in De Quincey last Sunday, and I have a church in Alabama this coming Wednesday to make the trip, you know, worth.

[12:22] So I said, I'll be there, my children. I have to do this, and they're also looking forward to meet me. I'm looking forward to meet my wife, and that's going to be a long three months, but looking forward to it, to meet her at the airport.

[12:42] But I'm looking forward to meet my Savior in the air. And if you are saved, you will be with me.

[12:56] Amen? I remember one of the guys in our church, we were working hard for the whole day. We worked hard to build the church, and in the evening we also worked. And he said, Pastor, what if our building is done and beautiful, and the Lord will return?

[13:19] And I look at him at the eye, you want it? You can have it. I will go there. I think we can ask the Lord for you to remain in here.

[13:31] No, no, Pastor, I'm going with you. I said, are you sure? Yes, sir, I'm sure. But while we are here on earth, we serve the Lord, and when we serve the Lord, we do our best.

[13:44] Amen? And when he comes back, nothing in this earth would compare when we see the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[13:56] Amen? We are struggling in this world. Yes. True, my friend, we are struggling in this world. But when Jesus comes back, all of the struggles will be over.

[14:12] All of the suffering. We are struggling, physical struggle, financial, every struggle. This world is not our home.

[14:24] We are living in this sin-darkened world, a world that rejected Christ, our Savior. Every December, people are celebrating, thinking of the verse, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

[14:43] But I could not, you know, I'm just, I think, that says, He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

[14:55] This is the kind of the world that we are living in. Sometimes we are tempted to make our own world, but Jesus told us to reach to the world and preach the Gospel.

[15:05] Amen? But it sure is a struggle to live in this world. It's a struggle to love our enemies, but God told us to do so.

[15:17] It's a struggle to forgive. Even in our flesh, we are struggling, the spirit and the flesh. I am even struggling right now to preach in English. And you are struggling to understand my English.

[15:32] It's either we struggle to live, or we struggle to do something in life. It's either we struggle to be a Christian, or we struggle to do something for Christ.

[15:45] But I remember the song that says, Sometimes the day seems long, our trial's hard to bear. We are tempted to complain, to murmur and despair, but Christ will soon appear to catch His bride away, all tears forever over in God's eternal day.

[16:07] It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ.

[16:20] One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

[16:36] Our labor in the Lord is not in vain because Jesus rose from the grave, and Jesus will return from heaven. Thank you so much for your labor, for your sacrifice, and God knows when He comes, He said, Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

[17:04] I once preached a message about the second coming of the Lord that it is sure, it is soon, it's gonna be sad, it's gonna be surprising.

[17:19] Amen? And it's gonna be satisfying. Satisfying. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

[17:37] Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this morning. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church, thank you so much, Lord, for the partnership, the friendship, in the ministry.

[17:59] Thank you so much, Lord, for your grace. Thank you so much, Lord, for everything. You have been so good to us, giving us the things that we need.

[18:10] You have been so gracious to us, giving us the things that we don't deserve. Lord, thank you so much. We give you back the praises and all the glory in Jesus' name.

[18:23] Amen. Pastor Mark, please come. Thanks for joining us today. We hope this message encouraged you and gave you something to apply to your life this week.

[18:36] If you'd like to learn more about Faith Bible Church or connect with us, visit our website at meetfaith.org. We'd love to hear from you. Have a great week, and we'll see you next time.

[18:49] We'll see you next time.