Serving SDG

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Okay, as you're thinking through this or marking it down, let me just make some initial comments.
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No, I'm not on a mission from the elder board of the pastors to talk about this. This is my own thing.
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And I've also learned from my professor in seminary that we're going to look at scriptures, of course, but when it comes to anything, especially this area of serving, my motive is not to make you feel guilty because, as my professor used to say, guilt is like sulfuric acid.
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It doesn't motivate anyone. But we're going to look at what the scripture says. That's the important part. So, the first one,
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I serve when they can't get anyone else to do it. Have you ever felt that way?
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Yes? Some of you have. The rest of you are all perfect saints. It's not always bad.
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Ah, good point. Tell us why. Why? Yes. Okay, good.
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So, let me just say it out loud so we pick it up. So, it's not always a bad thing if, for some reason, somebody gives birth or they're out sick, they asked you last minute, somebody asked you to serve spontaneously, as has been done a number of times, that's a good way to fill in and serve.
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Bruce? Okay? Okay, good.
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So, you can be blessed by it. You find the joy of serving if you've not done it before and you step up. As Bruce said, very good observation.
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Did I see another hand or was it some twitches going on? I picked that up from Andrew last week.
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Yes, Anitra? From your husband. Okay.
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Okay. Good. So, you don't want to serve, as she said, but you see that there's a need there, and you put your wants aside, you deny self, and you serve because there's a need there.
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Very good. Not all of these are bad. Some of them, it depends from your perspective. How about the second one?
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I serve out of a feeling of obligation. Yes? No?
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Yes? Gary? Okay.
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Out of obligation for what Christ has done for me. What's interesting, not in the sense of serving, but, you know,
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Romans, turn quickly to Romans 1, chapter 1, Romans chapter 1.
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As Gary said, out of a sense of obligation for what Christ has done for me, which we're going to touch on later on.
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But this is in terms of preaching the gospel. This is in terms of preaching the gospel.
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But it's the same principle applies to serving. It's not just, it's out of obligation. You know, we know the well -known verse, verse 16,
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I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God. But I want you to look at before that, verses 14 and 15, which lead up to that, contextually.
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Notice the first one, verse 14, I am under what? Obligation. I don't want to do things out of obligation.
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Paul says he's under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians. I'm glad I'm not a barbarian.
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Both to the wise and to the foolish. Now watch this. So, connecting, I am eager to preach the gospel.
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He serves in preaching the gospel because he has a sense of obligation, but he's also eager to do it.
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So it should be the same way in our service. There's a sense of obligation to the Lord, but then as we serve, as Bruce mentioned, it becomes a blessing to us, a joy.
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I had an opportunity yesterday, I'll share more about it tonight. But I was at work yesterday and it was crazy.
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I was alone, very busy time. And the last thing I was thinking of, I didn't want to do it, I got into a conversation with not a customer, but a person who was there demonstrating some of their lines and products.
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And he has a tendency to say a lot of funny jokes, Catholic jokes. So I'm like, not now, you know,
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I got the phone ringing, customers going left and right. But at that moment in time, there was nobody there in the store, no customers.
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I said, okay, Lord, I see this. So he said some joke about confessional, person going into the
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Catholic confessional, some kind of crude religious joke. And I said to him, you know what? I'll be talking about that, preaching about that tomorrow.
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And the Bible says that he who says has no sin makes
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God to be a liar and the truth is not in him. I didn't initially want to do it because I had so much going on on the job.
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But yet, when I did do it, it was a joy and a blessing. And then we got into it a little bit more. If you want to hear the rest of the story, come back tonight.
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But it is a sense of obligation when we serve in light of what Christ has done and it becomes a sense of joy.
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I serve willingly is this third one on your list. That's obviously in contrast to that or in addition to. It's something that should be done willingly.
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How about I serve because someone asked me to serve? Joni alluded to that earlier when somebody is out.
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When you're asked to serve, what might be the response? What's that?
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Should be open to it and consider it. Okay, should at least be open to it and consider it, yeah. You're asked on the spot, especially sometimes if it's spontaneous.
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You know, so and so is out. Could you teach Sunday school this Sunday? Let me pray about it. Then you come back next Sunday. I'm still praying about it.
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Pretty intense in prayer. How about I serve because my friends serve? Because your friends serve, this is why
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I serve. We're touching a lot on motives, of course, here in this sheet. I serve because my friends serve.
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Is that a bad thing, a good thing? Why or why not? Yes, Jonathan.
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Okay, okay, okay.
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So if it's your sole motivation, it's a bad thing. But it's good also if it's not your only motivation, but it's good, you said, to also serve together.
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Sometimes when you see others serving, your friends in particular, and you're in conversation, that can be a motivating factor to say, they're serving, maybe
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I ought to consider it also. I serve, the next one, because I can't think of a good excuse not to.
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And we'll touch on that later. If you can't think of a good excuse, I'll give you some today. How's that sound? And when you give that excuse, you can blame it on me.
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We'll cover that later. But I serve because I just can't think of a good excuse not to. I serve with joy.
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We covered that briefly. Bruce mentioned that even when you don't want to and then you get involved in serving, you end up doing it with joy.
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It's a blessing to you. I like the next one. I think I heard some smirks on this.
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I serve in the easiest job I can find. Any of you relate to that?
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As long as it's easy, I'll do it, which, of course, relates a lot to what should be our attitude, not just our motive in serving, but what should be our attitude.
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Mark 10 .45, right? Jesus said what? For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve in what?
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To give His life as a ransom for many. The direct connection between service and sacrifice. Turn with me, for example, to Philippians 2, where the apostle
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Paul really commends two people here in Philippians 2 in terms of their service.
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And I want you to notice the connection. As it says in our sheet, I serve in the easiest job I can find.
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But there's a direct connection in the Bible, not only exemplified by our Lord Jesus Christ, but as Paul highlights here, there's a direct connection between service and sacrifice.
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Timothy in Epaphroditus, verse 19 of chapter 2,
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Philippians chapter 2. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
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For I have no one like him. Pretty strong commendation on the part of the apostle Paul, is it not?
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I have no one like Timothy. Why, Paul? Who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
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When you serve, it's not about being self -serving. It's about serving others.
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He highlights Timothy. He doesn't seek his own interests, but you know, verse 22, Timothy's proven worth how as a son with a father, he has served me in the gospel.
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And then he continues in verse 25 and commends another brother, Epaphroditus.
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I have thought it necessary to send to you, Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need.
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For he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed, he was ill near to death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
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So Paul is highlighting here two men who served in the ministry with him, but served sacrificially.
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That's how Jesus did it, sacrificially. Go ahead. Yes. Yes.
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Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yes. Yes.
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Yes. Let me repeat that. As you age, as you mature with wisdom, you realize what your gifts and talents are, which we're going to touch upon it later on towards the end.
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And so you serve in the capacity where your talents and gifts are exemplified, and that's where you feel the most joy because you know that's where God has gifted you and where you've given talent.
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Peg mentioned about nursing. That's what she was in. Or if somebody was good at making meals, you know, serving and doing that, baklava especially would be very helpful.
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Okay. I serve with thanksgiving for all that Christ has done for me, which
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Gary touched on that earlier. I do it because of what Christ has done for me.
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I'm sure none of you, Mark, the next one, are thinking along those lines. I serve because Pastor Mike and Steve and the elders expect me to.
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This goes back to the area of expectations. Maybe after this week you might mark the next one.
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I serve because I was deeply convicted. And the last one relates to the first one, actually, but in a different capacity.
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Joni mentioned the first one was I serve when they can't get anyone else to do it. If there's a spontaneous need, somebody's sick or out because of a birth, could you fill in for them?
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This, in a sense, where I'm coming from in this last one, I serve because if I don't, who will? I'm already serving, but instead of taking some time away to rest, a lot of times my mentality might be, well, if I step down, who's going to cover for me?
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Who's going to do it? For instance, even the Sunday school curriculum and ministry, there are those who are there during the school year, but then they step down to take a little break for the summer, and so who's going to fill in?
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Who's going to take that role in serving one another? I learned an interesting example as a young new believer.
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This was 1987. I was a sophomore in college, and I went away to what's known back then.
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I was involved in a ministry called The Navigators, and we went to an eight -week summer training program, and part of the training program was to help us to mature in our faith, but to also learn exactly this, serving.
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So we had to do different duties that weren't so fun. So we had all these teams on this one campus at UMass Amherst, and part of serving for our team that particular week was to be in the kitchen.
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It wasn't my favorite thing to do. Washing dishes and cleaning up after everybody's mess and table in the cafeteria, not a fun thing to do.
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So I wanted to make it a little bit fun, so we had to wear these little aprons. They were plastic aprons, and I know you can see that image of me now.
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And we took the aprons with the rest of us who were on my team, and we made little ruffles on the bottom of them. And we turned on the radio, and while we were in the kitchen cleaning up everyone's mess and washing dishes, we were having fun serving.
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So there's always a way to enjoy it, even when it's not something you tremendously want to do.
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Since we've gone through that sheet, I want us to ask and answer these three questions. The first one is this, which is what that sheet really highlighted, is why should we serve?
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Why should we serve? In other words, what should motivate us to serve? So some of you touched it already.
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One of them was mentioned by Gary. Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
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So why should we serve is the first question. What are some motives for serving? Because of what Christ has done for us. Can you think of any others?
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Brian? We've been built to serve, okay?
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How's that? So God gave
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Adam and Eve, from the very beginning, we were built to serve, Brian says, because he gave them a command to till and tend the garden.
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Very good observation. Bob? Okay? Because in doing so, people will know that we are his disciples.
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Somebody else? Jonathan? Okay. You serve because it's a demonstration of love to the people you serve, because you're serving others, okay?
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Peg? Okay, upon conversion, you've been given a spiritual gift to serve, so you should exercise that gift.
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Joanie, did you have something else? Okay. Excellent.
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Because she said we're a part of a family, the church, the family of believers, so part of that is to serve our family and fulfill our roles in serving one another.
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Erickson? Okay? Okay. That's okay?
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If you think of it, raise your hand again. So let me just repeat what you said. So that we serve because we've been bought, we've been redeemed at a price.
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What Christ has done for us. Andrew? That wasn't a twitch, was it? Okay. Let me try to do justice to what you said.
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The first thing was Galatians 2 .20, Andrew said, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
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So it's the fleshing out of Christ living in me that I serve one another.
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And the other illustration he gave, I'm sure, to friends, those who are lagged behind, the others come alongside to serve and to help, and that's what we do in the body.
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When we see deficiencies, we come along and lift others up by serving one another. Did I see him miss another hand?
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Yes, Bruce. Excellent.
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When you love God, you love what he loves, and he loves the church. He gave himself for her, so that's why you are there to serve the church, as Bruce mentioned.
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Mayaro, you had your hand up. Okay. Excellent. Let me just take you to a very good point.
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Since it was, as she was saying, that Christ gave the ultimate, he made the ultimate sacrifice, so and so we are to do the same in serving others.
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Kind of piggybacks on what Bruce said. Turn with me to a couple passages. First, the Solonians, chapter 1. And I want to show you,
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I think one of the greatest motives ought to be for serving is, as has been mentioned in many different ways and forms, because of our salvation, what
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God has done for us in Christ. So you come to a grasp of the depth and glory of salvation, the doctrine of soteriology, and then you realize,
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I want to serve, and I want to show you these passages that highlight that directly, not implicitly, but explicitly.
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First, the Solonians, chapter 1. Paul writes of the Thessalonian church in verse 9, they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols.
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Why? To serve the living and true God. You turned from idols to God, repentance, salvation.
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Why? To serve the living and true God. Jump to Revelation, chapter 1.
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Again, a clear, explicit, direct connection between understanding what
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God has done for us in Christ, soteriologically in salvation, and us serving.
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Revelation, chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, the second half of verse 5, rather, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, okay?
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He has loved His own, and because of that, He's freed us of our sins by His blood.
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And did what? Continues in verse 6. And made us what? A kingdom priest to His God.
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Almost sounds like 1 Peter 2. He made us a kingdom priest to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
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What was the function of a priest in the Old Testament? What's that? Offer sacrifices.
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They served by offering sacrifices. So we don't offer those kind of sacrifices, of course.
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Christ's sacrifice was once and for all. But John's point here in Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, what
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Christ has done for us by redeeming us by His blood is to make us a kingdom of priests.
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We believe in the priesthood of every believer. That's part of what the
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Reformation fought against, not only against the doctrine of justification by faith, but it wasn't the papal community and just the rest of them.
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But we are all priests unto God, and therefore we are to serve. And one final passage in terms of this is the one
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I want to camp on a little bit. 1 Peter 4, and then we'll get to the last two questions.
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We're still in the first question, why do we serve? What's our motive for serving? Biblically. It's because of what
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God has done for us, first and foremost, in saving us through Jesus Christ. But I want to show you here in 1
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Peter 4, verses 10 and 11. As each one has received a gift, this is what
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Peggy was referring to earlier, as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace.
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Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything
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God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.
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Amen. My intention is not to go through an exposition of the spiritual gifts.
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If you want that, go back to and listen to Pastor Mike's message through 1 Corinthians 12.
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When he was taking us through 1 Corinthians. But I want to highlight here motives, again, for serving.
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What's the first one he mentions in verse 10? Each has received a gift. Everyone who has been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ has received a spiritual gift.
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Each and every one. So because you have received that gift,
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Peter says, each one ought to use it in serving. Notice also, he continues in verse 10.
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Use it to serve whom? One another. It's a fascinating study if you just follow the one another's of the
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New Testament. Love one another. Do not be envious of one another, Galatians 5.
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Accept one another, Romans 15. Do not bite one another. Forgive one another as Christ and God has forgiven you.
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And here we have, serve one another. It's about one another. It's about the family.
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It's not about you. Me, myself, and I, as Andrew mentioned, no longer.
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I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. I've been crucified with Christ. It's to serve one another.
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And notice a third motive. As what? Good stewards of God's very grace.
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When we think of the term stewardship, ekonomos, it's a manager of a household, of an ekos.
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Which simply means that that which doesn't belong to me, it actually belongs to God.
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That God has given it to me for a period of time to manage on his behalf. Isn't that amazing?
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But normally we think of stewardship in terms of money. Are you a good steward of your money? But everything we have is not ours.
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Whether it's our family, our children, whatever we possess. But here what Peter is highlighting is spiritual gifts.
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Those have been given by God to each one. And therefore be good stewards of it. Use them.
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Manage them well in serving the body. And then he highlights in verse 11 the two general kinds of gifts.
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Speaking gifts and serving gifts. And notice the ultimate climactic peak that he gets to in verse 11.
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You speak as one who speaks the oracles of God. You serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies.
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Why? In order that in everything God may be glorified.
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That's why we serve soli deo gloria. Anything and everything we do is ultimately only for the glory of God.
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Not for self -glory. It's to bring God the glory. So why do we serve?
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We serve because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. We serve because each of us has been given a gift.
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We serve because it's about one another, the family. We serve because we are stewards of the gifts that God has given us.
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And we serve because we want to bring glory to God by doing so. Ephesians 4.
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Just to highlight the importance of the body in each and every member. Peter said each one has received a gift.
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I think the New American Standard does this a little bit better. But we're reading from the ESV, and I'll highlight that as I show you.
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Ephesians 4. And this is just to highlight a little bit more what Peter said in the first part of chapter 4, verse 10.
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That each one has received a gift. 1 Peter 4, verse 7. But grace was given to whom?
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To each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts. Jump to verse 16.
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From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each part is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
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So each one, every single one has been given a gift. And when each one, every part does its work, the body of Christ grows up.
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Now those are bookends. And we're familiar with the middle part of this passage. Verses 11 and 12, if you will see.
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And he, Christ, gave, as the NASB says, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers.
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Has God gifted the church with those people? Yes. He's gifted the church with, back then for the early foundation of the church, prophets and apostles.
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And today with evangelists and pastors, teachers. But he says at the beginning and end of this portion of scripture, each one has been given a gift.
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Each one ought to be doing their part. So that's very important. Okay, second question.
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Those are some of the motives why we ought to serve. What are some characteristics of a servant? What would you say should characterize a servant?
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Any thoughts on that? What are some characteristics of one who is a servant? Selflessness.
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Selflessness, very good. Because we're not serving ourself, we're serving others. Anything else? Joy. Kevin.
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Caring. Say that again. Caring. Caring, exactly. Because you're caring for others.
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Let me piggyback on that a little bit. You know, needs arise in the body all the time. Whether it's somebody who's lost a loved one or somebody who's going through a difficult time.
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And you think, well, I don't know how to serve. I'm not sure what my gift is. I'm not sure where I can serve.
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Sometimes just the smallest thing is a great service. Writing somebody a note and saying, you know what?
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I know what you're going through. I want you to know I'm praying for you. Could be whatever, as simple as that. And sometimes, as Peggy mentioned earlier, when it comes to gifts and serving, you'll do that which
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God has gifted you and you'll get joy out of it. Because you're being blessed by it and others are being blessed by it. But again, caring is a definite characteristic because we're doing it for the sake of others.
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So selflessness, caring. Anybody else? Jonathan?
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Okay. Being proactive, not just waiting for somebody to come to you. I call it taking initiative. Yes, being proactive and looking for needs.
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Having what I call your antennas up and observing what are some needs that I see. Very good point. And I think another important one, all those are excellent and very biblical.
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Last passage I'll have us turn to for today. Luke 17. These are the words of our Lord. Luke 17.
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So we serve selflessly with joy because we care with a sense of being proactive and taking initiative, looking for needs.
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Those are the definite characteristics of a servant. And by the way, it's interesting there.
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There's one passage in, still go to Luke 17, I'll just mention this. Galatians 5, verse 17.
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Most of the times in the New Testament when it says we are to serve one another, it uses the Greek terms, which is literally a servant, a deacon.
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But there are a couple of times when it says we are to be slaves one to another. Most of the times the term slave, doulos, is used of our relationship with God the
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Father. Galatians 5 .13, for example. Through love, serve one another.
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In love, serve one another. Be literally slaves to one another. Interesting that the
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New Testament would mention that, not only in terms of our vertical relationship with God, but our horizontal relationship with one another.
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Luke 17, a characteristic of a servant, beginning in verse 7. Will any of you who has a servant, plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field,
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Come at once and recline at the table. Will he not rather say to him, Prepare supper for me.
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Dress properly. Serve me while I eat and drink. And afterward you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
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So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, We are unworthy servants.
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We have only done what was our duty. Now, this is not to say there are other portions in Scripture that say we are to commend one another.
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Paul, as I highlighted, did that in Philippians 2. And that we are to esteem one another highly and encourage one another and say,
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You know, good job. Thanks for serving. But even if we don't get that, or public recognition, or somebody thanking us for what we're doing, the point here that Jesus is making, we don't do it, that would be an impure motive to get that response.
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Better not to serve than to serve with that kind of motive. Very significant. Last question.
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So, we discussed the motives, why we are to serve, some characteristics of a servant, and now let's spend a little time as we finish.
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What are some excuses people give for not serving? And I know none of you ever give excuses, so just think wildly with me a little bit, what you might think might be some excuses.
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But I'll help you along. You might be familiar with this, Ministries of BBC. But inside is interesting.
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It has a section that's called Common Fallacies that Keep Christians from Serving. So we're going to do a little role play.
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I'm going to come to you and tell you this is my excuse for not serving. And you, being the wise, mature, biblical
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Christian, you're going to give me a proper response, okay? Okay, I'm just a new
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Christian. I can't serve yet. Oh, good,
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I'm free. No responses, Jonathan. But I don't know what my gift is.
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I'm going to play devil's advocate here. I didn't warn you for that. So the gift, okay, let me repeat that. So somebody who says
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I'm only a new Christian, the gift is to remind that person and maybe explain to them, you were given a gift, even as a new
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Christian, at the point of regeneration. So God gave you that to offer in service to the body, okay? Any other responses to that excuse?
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Gary. Excellent. A means of spiritual growth.
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Very good. Yes, Brian. Excellent.
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God's workmanship created for good works, Ephesians 2 .10. Excellent. Very good.
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I have another excuse, though. I have no skills to offer. I have nothing to offer. So I'm not going to serve.
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What would your response to that be? Yes, Karen. Excellent.
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Sometimes when you go and serve, she said, very good point, even though if you not know if that's what you're good at, you'll find out whether you are good at it or not, but just taking the initiative to serve, that can help.
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I encourage young ministers and tell them, listen, they think, you know, that was the case with me. I didn't know this was the capacity that God wanted me to serve.
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I thought maybe he wanted me to go overseas to be a missionary. But then as I got more into teaching and preaching the word of God, I thought that that was a blessing to me and to others.
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And I tell people, if you think this is where God wants you, go and serve in a capacity where you don't think you might be good at or even enjoy.
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And you never know that might be the area that God blesses you in. Very good. Any other comments on I have no skills to offer?
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Brian? Position?
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Okay. Okay. Excellent. Not to seek the gift per se in itself, but the joy that comes from it in serving.
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By the way, I don't want to forget you, Erickson. Did you remember that second point? Don't mean to put you on the spot, but in case,
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I don't want to forget you, okay? Anyone else? Yes. Okay.
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So as a new Christian, pray and ask God, you know, show me how I can better serve you and what capacity
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I can serve you within the body of Christ. Just for the sake of time, let me go through this last few. I'm very busy with work or family.
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I have no time for ministry right now. Oh, another guy got a freebie here.
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Mayara? Okay. Okay. If you don't, she says you have to make the time to serve.
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It's a matter of priority, she said, just like if she doesn't take the time to play with her kids, she won't play with your kids.
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You have to set it as a priority and set the time aside. My mentor from college always used to say to me, and I can still hear it today as if it was 20 years ago, you do what you want to do.
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You do what you want to do. So you make time and you'll do it. Did I miss any hands?
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Okay. I need more education, another excuse, and training before I can serve.
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I'm not educated. I don't have the training to serve. Okay? Excellent.
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To find a mentor, somebody who might disciple you to help you along. Janet? Excellent. Yes.
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Yes. Yes. Hmm. Excellent.
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Serving in the nursery. That's a great ministry, by the way. Get to watch my son. It's a blessing, let me tell you.
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So she said, I don't know if you picked up, it's not just serving in the nursery, doing the snow cleanup, helping clean up after church, the sanctuary with the chairs, little thing like that.
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There's not glory in it, but you're serving the body. You're helping the family of God. Excellent point. There's another excuse.
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I got my family. I have three young ones. They're my ministry. I don't need for me to serve. Brian? Okay.
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What better way to teach them what Christians are than serving alongside. Okay. A couple more.
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Things, this is right from here. Things seem to be working fine right now without me.
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You're getting rid of yourself. Spread it there. Want to say something?
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Go ahead. Oh, these are excuses why we shouldn't serve.
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The excuse was, things are working fine without me. Oh, wow, that is deep.
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Once you die, things are not going to be as well as they are now. That's convicting. Excellent. Excellent.
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Anyone else? Out of the mouth of babes. Here's another one.
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I've already paid my dues. I've done my duty. I've paid my dues. Why should I serve? Until you die.
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Yes, the answer was right there. Anitra? There's no such thing as retirement from ministry, retirement from service.
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Yeah. I remember one of my professors who made the sulfuric acid comment, who went to be with the
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Lord this past spring. He always used to say, you know, in the
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American system, we have retirement. And I remember him always talking about that. We never retire as a Christian. We never retire from ministry.
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He was serving the Lord even into his 85th year. Very good observation. I'll give one that's not in here.
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Maybe we'll light it in the next printing. I'm going through some deep trials in my life.
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I have to focus on those. I can't be thinking about serving.
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Yes. Yes. Yes.
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Excellent. Very good opportunity. Very excellent. So he said, just to repeat, that serving, one of the characteristics, as we mentioned, is joy.
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When you're focused on your own problems and yourself and your trials, there's no joy. Sometimes you might be depressed.
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But when you serve, then the focus gets off of yourself and your problems and on others.
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And then the joy comes as part of being a servant. Let me highlight the verses. We're closing.
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It's a quarter till the verses I took you to in First Peter, where he said, as each of you has received the gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards, all for the glory of God.
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The Book of Peter was written to persecuted Christians, Christians who were scattered, who were under persecution heavily.
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From the beginning of the book to the end of the book, if you read it, I entitled the book, For Suffering Christians.
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When you read the book, Peter makes it very clear from the get -go that these believers were being persecuted.
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For example, in Chapter 1, he says, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.
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And in the section we read in First Peter, Chapter 4, about serving one another, the very next verse, after he says we are to do it for the glory of God, he says,
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Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. Yet Peter, under the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit, was fit to say, Nonetheless, you're going through this trial. I want you to serve for the glory of God.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be together and to discuss these issues and help us in our way of thinking and our attitude towards serving, that we would not do it at all by any guilt, but we would do it ultimately because of what you have done for us in saving us and ultimately to serve the body, one another, not self -serving.