Timely Truths for Tranquility Part 6 by Dr. Rod Mattoon

About this sermon

In part six of this series on Timely Truths for Tranquility, we look at two key principles in finding tranquility in your life. We look at the importance of presenting your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord and doing the will of God in your life. * Romans 12:1-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. John MacArthur shares the story of a Chinese Christian who was moved with compassion when his countrymen were taken to work as coolies in South African mines. To be able to get access and share the Gospel with these men, this prominent old man did something remarkable. He sold himself to the mining company to work as a coolie for five years. He died there in those mines as a slave, but not until he had won more than 200 men to Jesus Christ. He was truly a living sacrifice for the Lord. The same type of thing happened in the mid-seventeenth century. A well-known Englishman was captured by Algerian pirates and made a slave, too. While in slavery, he started a church. When his brother arranged his release, he refused his freedom, having vowed to remain a slave until he died so that he could continue serving the Lord in the church he started. Today a plague in an Algerian church bears his name. He too, was a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ. Such behavior and sacrifice are approved and acceptable to the Lord. Beloved, all that God is … is available to the man who is available … to all that God is! Few have forgotten those words who heard them roll off the tongue of Major Ian Thomas, founder of Capenwray Missionary Fellowship and the international Torchbearer ministry. As a university student in London, Thomas had exerted all his energy for Christ, becoming a windmill of activity, packing every day with preaching, talking, and counseling but nobody was ever converted. He said, "The more I did, the less happened. I became deeply depressed because I really loved the Lord with all my heart. I discovered that forever doubling and redoubling my efforts to win souls, rushing here and dashing there, taking part in this campaign, taking part in that campaign, preaching in the morning, preaching in the evening, witnessing to this one, counseling with another, did nothing to change the utter barrenness of my activity." Near total exhaustion, Thomas prayed this prayer to the Lord one evening, "Oh God, I have tried to my uttermost and I am a hopeless failure." Suddenly a verse flashed through him that he didn't even know he knew. He couldn't remember hearing or reading it before, but now it rang in his mind like the Big Ben clock tower: Christ Who Is Our Life. It is from Colossians 3:4 which says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Thomas realized he had been trying to do for Christ what only Christ could do through him. His efforts were useless. He needed the power of Christ in him from the Holy Spirit. He told the Lord, "You are the One Who is going to go out now, clothed with me to do all that I so hopelessly have been trying to do in the past." The following Sunday as he prepared to teach 90 boys, he prayed, "Well now, Lord, Thou art going to speak to the boys' class. Isn't it wonderful? Yesterday I thought I was going to, but Thou art going to now." That day 30 boys trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Ian Thomas had learned that … All that God is, is available to the man who is available to all that God is! May we learn to tap into the Lord’s strength through prayer and our submission to Him. May we present our lives as a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ. This 32-minute message was preached on Wednesday night, January 18, 2023, at Lincoln Land Baptist Church.

Topics

• Bible Study