IT’S TIME TO TAKE STOCK!
by Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
TAKING INVENTORY
"According
as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
“And beside this, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to
godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
“For if these
things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“But he that lacketh these things is
blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his
old sins Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:4-11)
Usually around the end of the year
business people begin taking inventory - to take stock of what has sold and
what has not! Often, businesses find out what they have been
dreading all year – that their businesses didn’t do so well!
With the tremendously high interest
rates, inflation and excessive taxation come countries fare better than others
and some businesses better than the rest. Whether their fiscal year
comes to an end on the 31st day of October or December, ever
business knows that after 12 months of operation – you must take stock!
HAVE OUR LIVES BEEN PROFITABLE? The ultimate questions
the book-keeper and auditor answer is, “Did we go in the black red, or did we
just break even”?
Every farmer must evaluate, on a yearly
basis – how his operation paid off. The financial statements tell the
story in the business world.
HOW ABOUT THE CHURCH? How are we doing, and what did we
accomplish this year?
How did we do numerically, financially
& spiritually? What kind
of individual growth, as well as corporate growth did we have? How
many souls have we reached for Jesus in 2023?
Now is a good time to answer the question
that the hymn writer asked, "How many are the
lost that I have lifted, how many are the chained I've helped to free, I
wonder have I done my best for Jesus, when He has done so much
for me"?
My personal feeling is that the last day
of the year is a good time to take inventory. The
end of the year is a good time to take stock of our accomplishments for God's
kingdom and for our fellowmen. However, I also think that we ought
to take time on a weekly basis to evaluate our efforts and the results we are
having throughout the year!
If a farmer is constantly losing money or
making little or no profit, then certainly he will do something to change the
situation; perhaps change to a different grain, begin using different
fertilizer, improve his methods of breeding or change variety. Can
we - in the Church - do less for God's Kingdom that a farmer would do for
himself!
If our methods or "modus
operandi"? is not giving us the desired result, let us seek the
Lord for direction and our brethren for advice. Certainly we want to
be and desire to be productive!
MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE
St. Paul speaks of the power of God and the promises of the Lord
to usward who believe, in his epistles to the Ephesian Christians. (Eph.
1:19-20; 3:20) He often refers to the power of God that raised Jesus
Christ from the dead.
The Apostle Peter, in my text, speaks of the same thing. God's
power has given us life! He writes of precious promises and
the Divine nature that we receive when we believe
those promises. When we are converted, we escape the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
The real pollution is the pollution
or corruption of the mind and spirit, which Satan has unleashed upon the
earth, by the vehicle of lust. (un-controlled passions)
Christianity is serious business and living the Christian life is a
24-hour a day job! There must be and can be no let ups - "Neither
give place to the devil.." (Eph. 4:27) "Lest Satan should get
an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." (2 Cor. 2:11)
"...If ye do these things, ye shall never fall." (2 Peter 1:10)
We must also GIVE ALL DILIGENCE - touch
all the bases, follow the rules and obey the instructions, if we are to succeed
in the Christian Life!
ADD TO YOUR FAITH, VIRTUE!
The Bible says, "For by
grace are ye saved through FAITH..." (Eph. 2:8)
"But without faith it is impossible
to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. 11:6)
FAITH IS THREE THINGS!
No. 1 - Faith is Coming to God - presenting your problem, need or petition before
Him. You would not come to Him if you did not believe He is greater,
wiser and more powerful than you and can help you.
No. 2 - Faith Is Believing That God
Is Whom He Claims To Be - The Eternal,
Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent God. That Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and that the Bible is Divine, Authoritative and True.
No. 3 - Faith Is Expecting An Answer When
You Pray! The Gospel of Jesus Christ
purges our old sins, and the blood of Jesus frees us from
condemnation and fear!
Virtue comes only by consistent Christian
living, through Bible reading and prayer. And constant dedication of
our lives to Christ, with submission to His will. The scripture
speaks of "mortifying the deeds of the flesh." (Rom.
8: 13)
We must ask ourselves, "Do
we have virtue?" Before we can have any virtue, we need
faith which cometh by reading God's Word. (Rom. 10:17)
ADD TO KNOWLEDGE, TEMPERANCE!
It is so important for us to be balanced
in our Christian lives. A balance in doctrine, belief,
conversation and life style!
St. Paul said, "Let your
moderation be known unto all men..." (Phil. 4:5) Why?
Because..."The Lord is at hand."
Far out, fanatical, extremes in life
style, wearing apparel and practices is not scriptural. We must be
temperate and moderate in all things! There is no doubt that God is
very balanced and sensible, and that any good common sense we have, has been
given to us of the Lord!
ADD TO TEMPERANCE, PATIENCE!
How hard it is to be
patient! But, how wonderful and how rewarding... St. Paul wrote to
the Hebrew Christians concerning patience... "Cast not away therefore your confidence, (FAITH) which hath great
recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." (Heb.
10:35-36)
ADD TO PATIENCE, GODLINESS!
Christians are supposed to be Christ-like,
Jesus-people, who exemplify the Lord and emulate the Saviour! We should become
more and more like Him, the longer we live and study His word, seek His face
and witness for Him to our fellowmen.
The Bible says we are heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Christ. (Rom. 8:17; 1 John
3:1) We are sons of God now, and the only Bible that some people
will read. St. Peter declared, "Ye
are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men." (2
Cor. 3:2)
I love the old song, "To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, all I ask is to be like Him, so meek and
lowly, so humble and Holy, All I ask is to be like Him".
It is high time that we make Him
our example as well as our Saviour and Lord! We
need to be godly in our living, actions and in our conversation.
We are seated with God (as believers) in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6) and our conversation is in Heaven!
(Phil. 3:20) The Bible says, "Be ye Holy,
for I am Holy, saith the Lord." (Lev. 11:44)
ADD TO GODLINESS, BROTHERLY KINDNESS!
A little girl was saying her prayers one
night. Her mother overheard her daughter utter these words, "O Lord, there are so many bad people
in this world. Please make all the bad people good and Lord please
make all the good people NICE!"
What a prayer, "Make all
the good people nice!" Some good people - who are
saved - are not kind and charitable and anything but nice! "HELP
US O LORD TO HAVE BROTHERLY KINDNESS!"
To treat all Christians the same way we
treat our own brothers and sisters, sharing the joys and sorrows of others in
the household of faith.
Jesus made a tremendous statement when He said, 'Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you.' (Matt. 7:12) We call that verse “THE
GOLDEN RULE.” How good it is to dwell in unity and peace with one
another and to love each other with godly "agape" charity or
love! St. Paul wrote, "Bear
ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the laws of Christ." (Gal.
6:2) St. Paul also said, "Let brotherly love continue." (Heb.
13:1) I say Amen to that!
ADD TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS, CHARITY!
Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have
love one to another." (John 13:35) "...he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law." (Rom.
13:8) The law of the world is the law of the jungle: "Dog
eat dog and every man for himself!"
Jesus came into this world with another
law - "...Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you...Give, and it shall
be given unto you...Lend, hoping for nothing again!" (Matt.
5:44; Luke 6:38; Luke 6:35)
IF YE DO THESE THINGS YE SHALL NEVER
FALL!
What comfort these words of admonition
give us - If ye do these things ye shall not fall! WHAT THINGS? "Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises that
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue; and
to virtue knowledge; And
to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience;
and to patience godliness; And
to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity."
St. Peter declares emphatically that if we keep God's Word we will be
fruitful in our Christian Life. He also warns of
the consequences of living a ship-shod , carnal life without morals, guidelines
and ethics, while still calling ourselves ‘Christians.’
"For if
these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins." (2
Peter 1:8-9)
St. Paul agrees with Peter’s
warning: "Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor.13:5)
BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS
The Bible warns: "Let
no man deceive you with vain words: For because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye
therefore partakers with them. For ye were somtimes darkness, but
now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." (Eph. 5:6-8)
BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS! What things? "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling savour.
“But fornication, and all uncleanness,
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh
saints." (Eph. 5:2-3)
"And have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it
is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
“But all things that are reproved are
made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light, See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as
wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." (Eph.
5:11-17)
HE HATH FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED!
St. Peter makes the analogy of a backslidden
Christian to a sow that has been washed clean and ends up in the muck
again and a dog that goes back to its own vomit. "For
if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
“For it had been better for them not to
have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them
according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and
the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (2 Peter 2:20-22)
The difference between a sheep and a pig
is that if a sheep falls in the mud it will seek not the repeat the
error. A sheep doesn’t enjoy filth, while a sow will go right back
into the slop and mire again.
If we fall into sin, the thing to do is
to repent and confess our sins to God and
carry on serving God to the best of our ability by His grace and power.
DO NOT STAY IN THE PIG PEN! ANYTIME IS
A GOOD TIME TO TAKE STOCK!
A final word from the apostle Peter, "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot
see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his own
sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your
calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never
fall." (2 Peter 1:9-10)
IT IS DEFINITELY TIME TO TAKE INVENTORY – to take stock of our achievements for Christ and His
Kingdom, now!
NO. 1 - How many souls have we won to
Christ this past year? This past
week? Have we talked to someone about their soul's salvation
today? Do we give out gospel tracts (NEW LIFE BOOKLETS) on a regular
basis? (We will supply all you need on a free will offering basis!)
NO. 2 - How is our prayer life? Do we communicate with our Heavenly Father on a
regular basis? Do we pray in Jesus precious name, evoking His
intermediacy and intercession? Do we ask the Holy Spirit to guide
and direct us? Do we seek God's face regularly?
NO. 3 - How about praise, worship and
intercession? Do we pray in tongues regularly
(in the Spirit)? (1 Cor. 14:2) Do we intercede with groanings which
cannot be uttered? (Rom. 8:26) Does the Spirit help our inability to
pray by introducing a new dimension (that of the Spirit-filled believer) in
our lives? (Rom. 8:27) Do we magnify God? (Acts 10:46)
NO. 4 - Are we reading the Bible regularly
or does dust gather on its cover? Do
we listen to gospel music instead of worldly music? A great blessing
to me is "The Bible on Cassette." I can listen
to 20-30 chapters (or more) per day instead of just reading only 2 or 3.
NO. 5 - Are we a regular tithe payer? Or, do we slough off by saying, "We're not
under the law but under grace!"? Tithing was
instituted before the law, confirmed under the law and definitely
is in effect today.
The tithe is the least we should give to
God. The rule of thumb in the New Testament is to do more than what
is expected of us. (Matt. 5:39-42) We should give as God has
prospered us! (1 Cor. 16:2)
G. Letournoux made an agreement with God
and went into the road building business in partnership with OUR HEAVENLY
FATHER. In the beginning he gave 10% to God. Before he
died Brother Letournoux was so wealthy that he lived on only 5% of the profits
and gave 95% to the Kingdom of God.
Have you made an agreement with
God? Have you taken Him as your partner? Do you regularly
and consistently give God His share? If you don't, will you please
start today?
NO. 6 - Are we fasting to the Lord on a
regular basis? Years ago we set aside
Wednesday as our regular fast day. (Drink at least 8 glasses of
water or juices on any given regular day you decide to fast.) Some
people fast a mean a day and spend time in prayer.
Jesus said, "Can the children of the
bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?...when the bridegroom
shall be taken away, IN THOSE DAYS SHALL THEY FAST!" (Mark
2:19-20)
John Wesley stated - when he saw
worldliness creeping into the church - that If believers were not
fasting on a regular basis they were as backslidden as if they were not praying
regularly! That's quite a statement from a mighty man of
God! (The Methodists fasted Wednesdays & Fridays, the morning and noon
meals in imitation of the EARLY CHURCH).
NO. 7 - Are you letting your light shine
for Jesus by living a
kind, considerate and loving as well as compassionate, consistent Christian
life? Or are you mean, snarly, sarcastic
and proud? Let us all humble ourselves regularly and ask ourselves, "Am
I kind and sweet or am I a poor representative to this world for the Kingdom of
God?"
Let us emulate Jesus in order to effectively share His Love and
grace to a searching, lost and dying world! Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) Amen.
Max Solbrekken World Mission
Box 44220 RPO
Garside
Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6
email: [email protected]
Blog: www.maxsolbrekken.com
www.comehometojesus.ca
Youtube; Facebook: max solbrekken
Donations can be sent by e-Transfer:
Make your
donations to: [email protected]
Thank you so much and may God bless
you. Amen.
