We’re in a series right now talking about purpose, and why we live, and how we find meaning, and why we’re on this planet, and why we’re alive, and how do we answer some of the large questions in our life. Some of those deeper questions and just the menial things so I want to talk for a few minutes just where we can find some purpose.
I want to talk about why I serve...why I serve. Last week we talked about why I reach. Now this series has two sides to the coin. It has one side that I believe that these 4 things that we are talking about: reach, serve, give and build, I believe there are 4 things that can help you as an individual find purpose and meaning in why you’re alive. I find out that when I reach out to other people, I start realizing some of my purpose. I have found out that when I am going through things, one of the greatest things I can do is serve somebody else going through something else. Because how many knows that there is always somebody whose got it worse? Can I have a good amen? A lot of times when you serve other people, the things in your life just begin to dissipate cause you’re reaching out to other people. It’s the same way with giving and building.
And so, one side of the coin is we believe it speaks to us individually but then the other side of reach, serve, give and build it tells you the reason why we make the decisions here at the church. Why we are the church that we are -- why do we do the things that we do -- why do we go to the Varsity -- why do we go out and reach out into Peru -- why are there coaches that are getting a part of Upward Sports, give of their time to be a part of that -- why, because we believe those 4 things: reach, build, give, serve. They’re how we make decisions here as a community of faith, so we want you to know these things. So let’s talk for a few minutes about "why I serve."
Father, we just love you so much -- let’s all bow our heads and let’s pray -- Father, I just love you so much, I thank you for what You’re doing. I pray right now in the name of Jesus that You would help us to understand and to discover everything that You have for us. Lord, I thank you that Your Word is alive and that Your Word is truth and Lord, You will speak to our life. Father, we have found out that one of the great ways to discover our purpose, our meaning, why we’re here, to be more fulfilling in life, to not feel like we are wasting away, Lord it’s beginning to serve. Lord, You’re the ultimate Servant, You are our suffering Servant, but not only were You our suffering Servant, You’re our soon coming King. So Lord, we just love you so much, in Jesus’ Name. And everyone said amen. Turn to your neighbor and say, Jesus is here and literally anything can happen. Turn to your other neighbor and say, Jesus is here and anything can happen. Turn around and give someone a high five and let them know they’re in the right church.
Let me give you some scripture right up front that’s going to help you recharge, I believe, your desire to serve. I believe the scriptures that are going to help you serve in the season and the world that God has you in. Joshua chapter 22 verse 5, be careful to obey all the commandments and the Law that Moses gave to you. Love the Lord your God, walk in all of His ways. Obey His commandments, be faithful to Him. Serve Him with all of your heart and all of your soul. Serve Him with all of your heart and all of your soul. Matthew chapter 6 verse 24 another scripture -- really, if you want to just park it at Psalm 100 we’re going to get there and you can read the scriptures up here. There’s a lot of scriptures I’m going to give you. Matthew 6:24, know man can serve two masters, no man can serve two masters. For he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. That speaks about there comes a time in your life when you have to make a choice about who you’re going to serve. Then Romans 7:6, what I like about this scripture is it helps us to understand that we can serve God in the newness of His plan for us. That there’s an opportunity that God gives us to serve. And it’s a serve that’s pleasing to Him. It tells us in Romans 7:6, but now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. I like how the Bible tells us here that we can serve God in the here and now. That we can serve Him right now, with the help of His Spirit. We don’t have to serve Him in the old sense of forms and rituals and mere activity, just mere spiritual activity. Just things we should do, things we have to do, things we are forced to do. I feel like if I don’t do this, I’m not going to have little checks in heaven and little gold stars in heaven. No, the Bible says there is a serving of God where it’s out of the true spiritual heart of man.
Let’s look at another scripture, Colossians 3:23-24, it says whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord not to men. Knowing that from the Lord you will receive a reward of inheritance -- watch this, you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the great ways to live life is to discover that really in my job, in my school, in my home, with my family, I’m doing it all as unto the Lord. Whatever vocation I’m functioning in, whatever place that God has me in, when I serve, when I work, when I sacrifice, when I give, when I do these things, I’m doing it as unto the Lord.
And then in Galatians 5 -- we’ll read 2 more scriptures -- Galatians 5, for brethren ye have been called unto liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion of the flesh but by love serve one another. The Bible talks about serving one another. We are called to serve the Lord -- Scripture tells us we are called to serve in the newness of the spirit -- scripture tells us that we are called to serve one another and then it says just don’t serve out of the letter of the law, just don’t serve because you have to.
Have you ever been around somebody who does something because they have to? Hey, can you come help me? Well, if I have to. How many that at that moment, well, don’t even come then. If I have to come help you clean out the closet...gosh, urrrr. Well I don’t even need you then. We don’t want anybody serve us because they have to. And the Bible tells that we’re not to do it that way but we’re to do it out of responsibility of what the spirit wants, out of the responsibility of what Christ has done for us, out of the responsibility of serving one another, out of the responsibility of the grace of God, the mercies of God. That there is a responsibility within the family of God to serve one another. And to do it in the right spirit.
Last scripture Psalm 100 verse 2, let’s everybody turn there and look -- Psalm 100 verse 2, this is a great scripture. This is kind of the pinnacle of a served truth. Psalm 100 verse 2, serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. I love those 5 words, serve the Lord with gladness. I’ve read a lot of different scriptures the last 10 days, getting ready to...why do I serve? Why am I supposed to serve as a believer? Why do I serve in my life, why is serving just something that God honors? As I read this scripture, I kept going back to these 5 words, serve the Lord with gladness. Do I serve the Lord with gladness? Am I serving the Lord with gladness? Is the way I serve, do people think that I am glad about serving? In the way that I touch, in the way that I care, in the way that I help, in the way that I work and the way that I’m reaching out to somebody else, and the way that I do my duties and my responsibilities, would people know that I’m serving God out of gladness or would people think that I am serving God out of sadness? Cause He’s not called us to serve Him out of sadness. We know that there are going to be sad moments, there are going to be sad things that happen in our world, but the Bible says that we are to serve the Lord out and with a spirit of gladness in our life. Gladness not sadness; gladness not guilt. We don’t do it out of guilt. God’s going to come down from heaven and bang us over the head because we’re not serving Him in all these things. We don’t do it out of guilt and we don’t even do it out of obligation. We’re to serve Him out of gladness not obligation. Serve the Lord with gladness not even out of duty. Serve the Lord with gladness, not even out of, you know, busyness. Serve the Lord with gladness not even boredom. I believe when you serve the Lord you can do it out of gladness and not boredom.
Some people think God is boring, and if you live the purposes of God it’s just going to be one big bore fest. That’s not the truth. We serve the Lord with gladness, we don’t even serve the Lord out of fear but with gladness. Can I ask you a question? Here’s the questions that I’ve thought about...are you still glad that you’re serving the Lord? Will people know that you’re still glad about serving God. This works in a lot of different places. Have you ever seen someone that wants a job and they go for an interview and in that interview they want a job so bad...please, please, please hire me, please hire me. Well, I don’t have an opportunity. Please! Well I know you have some real incredible skills and your resume is high level, but I only have a really low position. Please! It’s not real high paying. I’ll work for free! Okay, but the only job I’ve got is sweeping...you are going to have to sweep the warehouse. I’ll take it! I’ll take it! Okay you’re excited. I’m excited!! Whooo! Boy the first day on the job they’re early, kinda bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Good morning! Like 5 o’clock, waiting on the boss to get there. He gets there. You’re there early in the morning. You’re just sweeping around the parking lot, you’ve been out trimming the trees, you’ve re-roofed the house, I mean you’re just into it. First day, you’re sweeping, you’re so excited, sweeping and kinda a little singing like you know, blessed be the name of the...good morning! So excited about having the job. Boss walks in...blessed be...good morning, what’s up? Can you stay a couple of hours? I’ll stay all night! I’m in! Man they’re so excited about the job. But then a year later...I can’t believe...nobody knows... All bummed out, boss walks in, hey, can you stay an extra 5 minutes? No!! Aughhh. It went from -- please give me the job -- noooo. It’s like we use our gladness. We are no longer glad about the opportunity. We’re no longer glad about this possibility in my life.
Maybe this job or this ministry opportunity -- I’ve seen people do that. Join the choir, boy, the first week in the choir they’re just singing, smiling like they’re the only ones on stage. Into it! A year later they’ve been supporting in the choir, they’ve been praying -- it’s a worship choir, it’s all about worship, about people, it’s not really about the choir position. All of a sudden, no solo, no get to lead worship. That Sunday they get up and it’s like aughhh. Everybody smile. Uhhhh.
It happens in the job. Guess what? It happens in a marriage. Come on somebody. Boy, it’s just please, please baby, will you marry me??? All my money, my credit card -- I ain’t got nothing. You’ll do anything. Just do anything. Sleep out in the rain. I mean, you know, give them everything, just give it to them. Two years later, five years later Valentines rolls around, don’t even buy the sister a card. Said, did you get me anything? I got you something last week, I brought you a gallon of milk, it’s got a red top! Hey! Give me a sharpie, I’ll write "Happy Valentines" on it -- God bless you! At one moment there’s a gladness, but now there’s a sadness. There’s an obligation, there’s a guilt. I do not believe that’s purpose, I do not believe that’s the plan of God for our life. For those things to happen in a home, in the church, in our workplace. We have to ask ourselves, why do we serve?
I’ve done some soul searching -- I just went through some things. You know, I thought about why do I serve? I thank God for a family culture. I was raised in a family culture where serving was very important. Our parents gave us jobs to do, gave us duties to do. I think that’s important in a family. We went to work 13-14 years old. We were working in my Dad’s business. My Dad was an immigrant...I mean, Grandfather was an immigrant from Italy, so they had a great work ethic and we believe in working hard. Always been around that in a family culture. I thank God for my early church culture. In the early church culture when I came to Christ...thank God for a pastor who instilled in me how the kingdom of God works. I didn’t even know it but you know what he was teaching me? He was teaching me it’s not about serving for a position, it’s about serving for our Savior. And early on, I remember in the third week of the church my pastor talked about serving, getting connected. So I met him at the bottom stair of the platform. I met him and said, hey man, I want to get involved, I think I can be a part, I am used to serving people, and I’m in town and kinda got it going on -- I’m 18 and you know, you did pretty good this morning but maybe you could let me preach. In my arrogance I asked the pastor, maybe I could speak a little bit, I kinda got a few things working. I thought I was a good speaker. It’s just nauseating. And I remember he was so gracious, he said, son, I think what you should do is you need some prayer. I want you to get in the prayer ministry.
And I showed up in prayer ministry with 60-year-old women...5 sixty-year-old women...I think some of them were pushing 80. And we prayed for 5 or 6 months. I’m 19 years old, I’m the youngest one in the room, I’m the only guy. Guess who got prayed for every Saturday morning? Guess who had all the issues. They were intercessors, they were discerning spirits and all this. Guess who had them all -- ME! They were coming up with stuff I hadn’t even done that I was admitting to. Yeah, I did that too. Yeah. Didn’t even do it. I mean they come up with an issue I feel like someone’s got this in their life. I didn’t even have it -- I’d lie to back them off. Yeah, it’s me, come on and pray for me and get it over I gotta get out of here.
And then from there, I went into vacuuming the church. The pastor told me, I need you to vacuum the church. There was no staff so nobody was vacuuming so they could possibly get hired. They was no hiring then. I didn’t know what "staff" was. And I would meet and I would work until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning on Friday night, show up at the church at 7 o’clock and vacuum from 7 to 11. For 9 months I vacuumed the church because he said this is how the kingdom works. You serve in the kingdom.
Then later on I taught 9, 10, 11 year-old boys. 52 weeks straight -- never let me in church. If you taught children’s church you were not even allowed to walk by the auditorium. Get your behind to that classroom. Don’t even walk by the auditorium. It was hardcore. But I thank...looking back now, I thank God for early church culture who taught me that it was not about serving to get noticed. It was about serving for the eyes of heaven.
And then from there I went to Bible College. I got around men like Wayne Austin, Jim Rentz, Dave Ohlerking who began to teach me that it’s not about a title, it’s about a towel. I began to serve in bus ministry and reaching out to camps and helping youth and home groups, and campus cleaning up, setting up chairs, going to pull up cars for guest pastors, going to get water for the preacher, going to the hospital, preaching to anybody that would listen to me. In all types of groups. Do you know my first Sunday morning service was to 9 people in a home right off Anticoh Blvd. That was my first Sunday morning service...9 people...4 of them rode with me. I figured out how to build a crowd -- let them drive with you. You’ll get some people there. That was my first Sunday sermon. To 9 people. It was DeLynn and Candace, I made her go, we had 2 friends from Bible College and this lady had 5 people, I think in her family, she was having a home church and I showed up that morning, didn’t know hardly anything. Had me a sermon prepared -- I walked up in there. We’re in the living room! I mean, I’m thinking...where is the...is the church out back? No brother, it’s right here -- go ahead, preach. I mean there was not back...video graphics, no countdown and nobody’s playing the music. Just living room -- catch -- remote controls right there.
And I preached and gave it everything I had. God done preaching, getting ready to leave and I’ll never forget, she walked...she said, wooo boy, that was God -- woooo. We felt the Lord. And I mean she said, congregation, congregation, can I have everyone’s attention? Congregation! I’m like, we’re right here! We in the living room. I mean, there’s not a balcony, it’s us. She said, how many would like Brother Rizzo to come and hold us a revival tonight? You mean, in here? We’re going to have revival...Sunday night revival. I didn’t have a revival sermon, I didn’t have a revival suit. I didn’t know any revival messages. So I came back on Sunday night...7 people. 5 rode with me...DeLynn and Candace, and I made them sing. Cause how many knows you can’t have a revival with a little bit of singing? So they sang, I preached. Any place I could find to share the gospel was an honor.
Could I tell you church? It is about serving Him. It is never about being seen. He didn’t die on a cross to elevate all of us. He died on a cross to elevate the message of His life and His good news. This church has always been a place of serving; our church culture is serving. We don’t have a lot of titles, we don’t have a lot of clubs, a lot of committees, a lot of that kind of stuff. We believe the main thing is Jesus Christ and let’s get Him to everybody we can. Everything else is a minor issue. The major thing is the message of Jesus Christ. It’s always been our culture, we were birthed out of serving. It’s been a value of our church.
I believe in 1993 when we came to this community we felt like there was some low credibility when it came to the church. There had been some scandals, there had been some issues in multiple locations. There was disappointments, there was some territorialism, there was some closed-off mind sets. There were those that were opposed to new ways to reaching people. But we felt like we were supposed to be here, and we were supposed to be here to carry an environment with the passion of Christ to be a healing place for a hurting world.
So we thought how are we going to get people to be connected? I mean it’s not going to be through our singing--it’s just us. We didn’t have a band and didn’t have all that kind of ...we didn’t start off with any of this. It was DeLynn and Candace and a few musicians. There were many weeks when we led worship with DeLynn and Candace and a saxophone player. That was it! So it wasn’t like we were going to gather because of cool music.
It wasn’t like we started because of great preaching...I’m just a great preacher, I need to preach. Everybody needs to hear me preach...I didn’t feel that way at all. Still at times I feel like our communication here, that God helps us but there are greater preachers. There’s great preaching all over the place. We’re not the greatest preachers on the planet.
But we felt like, well it’s not going to be the preaching, is it the programs? We got all these incredible programs, we can all do this, this, this and that. We had nothing to offer. I mean we barely had a nursery. So what it that we were going to do, what were we going to be a part of, what was going to be our style, our leadership mode that’s going to be able to take the gospel forward?
You know what we thought about? Let’s serve people. And the Holy Spirit spoke to DeLynn and I’s heart and said, that if you will begin to serve then I’ll give you an opportunity to speak -- but don’t speak before you serve. I’ve not called you to be a spokesperson, I’ve called you to be a servant. And so we gave those early years to serve.
You know what it was like, you remember back in the day in school when there was a thing called "show and tell?" You kinda bring...see my GI Joe. My GI Joe, he got fuzzy hair. He’s a GI Joe, he wiggles his legs. Everybody look at him. All the kids say, hi GI Joe. My Daddy will beat you up. I mean show and tell was a great moment in class. I did good at show and tell. I did better at that than calculus -- can I have an amen? How many probably thought that? It was a little better at show and tell than calculus. You love it. You know what I felt like the Lord spoke to our heart about a church? I felt like He said, why don’t you be a people that will show the gospel, show the love of Christ, show the message of Jesus and then you’ll get to tell them about it. But don’t be a group that will tell them and tell them, and never show them. It’s show and tell and tell and tell.
So we feel like we’ve tried to do that over these years. We believe when you do that, you can reach and there can be a credibility increase. We believe that when you serve there’s a kingdom increase. That we serve with no strings attached. We’re not serving to get somebody to be a part of our denomination, our church, our personality or anything like that. We are serving, hopefully with no strings attached. That hopefully in some way this touch with bring you closer to Jesus. Whether it’s in this building or some other incredible building in town. And alternately we believe that serving is Jesus-style ministry. We believe that’s what Christ did, Christ came to serve. Serve the least, to serve the rejected, to serve the rebellious...He came to serve. Jesus loved to serve. He still loves to serve you. He loves to serve, He loved to serve His disciples, He loved to serve the crowds, He loved to serve people.
Do you love to serve people? Do you know that there are people who do not like to serve? There are people that make excuses why not to serve. Matter of fact, I wrote down, just to kinda play with it a little bit. I wrote down 6 excuses on why we don’t serve.
I’ll tell you what the first one is: 6 excuses on why we don’t serve
I’m not needed and no one has ever asked me -- no one’s ever come to my house and kind of brought a band to my house and on the front door asked me to be a part. I’ve never been asked and no one needs me.
Do you know what? The kingdom of God needs you cause there’s nobody just like you; you’re unique; there’s a place for you to serve that only you really can do. If no one’s ever asked you, guess what? I don’t remember a lot of ever being asked a lot of things. But I don’t think you wait to be asked -- I believe the Lord’s already asked you. And I think that’s good enough.
Let me tell you the second reason that people make an excuse for not to serve: The Lord will use somebody else. Do you really want to get to heaven and stand before the Lord and the Lord look at you and say, boy, I had some amazing things...I had a task I had a mission, I had an assignment for you in Gonzales, I had an assignment for you in Plaquemine. Whooo man! It was incredible but I had to get somebody else. I don’t want that ...I do not want the Lord to have to substitute me for what I’ve been given. Lord, don’t find no substitute to take care of my assignment, in my home and in my workplace, and in the house of God.
The other reason people don’t serve is they say, I don’t have enough time, I don’t have enough time. Now everybody right now just take a deep breath. Loosen up a little bit because it’s getting ready to get tight up in here. Turn to your neighbor and say, I like the pastor, he’s okay. Cause, guess what, hear me...and I say this in compassion. You have time to do what you want to do. Don’t ever use the excuse, I don’t have time to serve the Lord. I don’t have time to serve at church, I don’t have time to serve my family, I don’t have time to serve outreaches. Yes you do! You have time -- don’t ever use that excuse.
The third excuse is this: It’s not my spiritual gift...it’s not my spiritual gift. I don’t feel called to do that. I don’t feel the Lord has equipped me; I don’t feel the moving of the Holy Spirit to do that. Can I tell you? The Bible nowhere talks about a spiritual gift. It’s just a part of your DNA. Tell you something else..a couple more...I get uncomfortable serving people that I don’t know. Weird. I’m gonna help you. I want to help you serve some people you don’t know cause some of you are probably tired of serving some of the people you know. Some of you probably tired of messing with some people. There’s some people, Lord, I need some people I don’t know cause the ones I know about to drive me crazy. I think God wants you to serve some people that you don’t even know.
And then lastly, it cost too much. It will cost me time, money, a career, my stuff I want, all my toys -- I may have to give up something to do that. Please remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 16 verse 24. Jesus said to His disciples if any of you want to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. I love...you know, one of the things I love about the Lord, He never backed down in calling for sacrifice. There are people that would gather together and say, Lord I’m just not sure if I could sacrifice like that. Do you think I could kinda cut a deal with you and maybe just negotiate an arrangement with you? He would say, nope! Love ya, God bless ya but the only way the kingdom will thrive in your life is you have to sacrifice something. He never cut corners in calling people to sacrifice.
Here’s my new definition of "sacrifice" at Healing Place Church...just a new one I feel like the Lord’s given me, is this right here: giving up something that you love for something that you love even much, much, much more. Giving up something that you love for something that you love even much, much more. Have you found something that you love even more than yourself? That’s marriage, that’s children, that’s family, that’s the kingdom of God. Have you ever found anything that you love much, much more?
I think about Todd and Candy Sheets (?) -- got a great restaurant, Snow’s Restaurant. He loves the restaurant business. God has blessed Todd. They love running that restaurant. They’ve got a great home. Todd loves playing golf, Candy loves to decorate, shopping for antiques. They love all that but you know what’s amazing? They have found something that they love even more than that...serving Jesus Christ. He’s found something that he loves even doing his own thing. You know what he loves? He loves getting men together on a Monday morning and providing an opportunity at his restaurant so men can come together and have a Bible Study.
When you think about that...I think about Lance and Melissa Hollingsworth. Lance loves to work, got a great business. Melissa loves teaching kids -- she’s a school teacher. They got an incredible home...love their home, love all their kids, but you know what, raise up your hands Lance and Melissa...they’re right here. Todd and Candy raise up your hands...they’re right here. You know what Lance and Melissa have found that they love more than that? Even though they love their time...they love their time away, gotta pool down the street...they love the pool, all these kind of things they found something they love more than that. Melissa loves to get here early at the church and get ready for choir. She loves sacrificing a Thursday night when she could be at home to be up here. Lance loves his things, he loves LSU football, he loves all of that but you know what he loves more than that? He loves getting together with kids in our basketball league and in our baseball league and coaching children but then telling them about Christ.
See there comes a time when you do find something that you do love even more than personal gain and personal wealth and personal materialism, you find something you love even more than that. You know what you find? You find a love that will not let you go -- a Savior, you find the body of Christ. You find these things and you decide it’s worth the sacrifice. Because I’ve found something that’s more than this.
Why do I serve, why do I serve? I wrote down a little list, and I’ll finish with these. I thought I’d draw them. Many of you know I’m an artist and I’ve spent some time at some art galleries in Milan and then in Bunkie, and uh, cool things. I wrote down reasons why I serve.
Here’s the first reason:
I’m drawing...these are musical notes.. the first reason why I serve is because of DeLynn. Because I believe the number one role of a husband and...ya’ll like that? It’s a portrait of her. Hey, how’d I do? Your hair’s a little bigger. I believe the number one role of a man in a home is to serve the home. You say, no, no, the number one role is to lead. The greatest leadership is servant leadership. I believe the number one role is to serve. I think DeLynn deserves a husband that is willing to serve her. I’m not there yet...I’ve got a long, I mean miles...I think it’s one of the most appealing things in a marriage when a man is willing to serve his wife. You know what I found out? When I serve DeLynn, I’ve never had to demand her to serve -- oh, woman, you gonna serve me, you gonna have that meal ready at 5 o’clock when I walk in the door. I wouldn’t even eat that meal, Lord, I’d be afraid. I believe when you serve, there is something on the inside of a wife, a model woman who says, I want to serve back. It’s just a natural thing that God has placed.
The second reason why I serve is ...are you getting that? (Pastor is drawing on board) My kids. That’s McCall, she’s cheering; Dillon is playing basketball; and that’s princess, Isabella. I cannot force these kids to serve God...there’s no way. I can’t shove God down their throat. I can’t make them love Jesus. But you know what I believe serving does as a husband, as a father as any of us, any parent in here, I believe when you serve your children in touch love and in giving them boundaries, in bringing them to church and bringing them to youth group, in serving them in the house of God to get them connected, serving them in the healthy boundaries that they need, serving them in teaching them character. I believe when you serve your children with the heart of Christ you are laying stones...a pathway for them to live the life that God intended. I just feel that in all my heart. Again, this is an area that I’ve got to grow in sometimes. But I think that’s the second why I serve.
Let me tell you about the third reason why I serve. Okay, I gotta get a little more skilled here...(drawing again) ...that’s the church, that’s our new church upon the hill. I believe the body of Christ is worth serving. I want to serve the body of Christ. I want to serve the people of God; I want to serve the ones that I am going to be with in heaven. I think the body of Christ is worth some time, some talent, some treasure and some touch. It’s worth you trying and making an effort and doing everything you can to find a place to serve. Not waiting on it to come to you; not waiting on the red carpet but finding a place to serve.
And then fourthly, I’ll finish up. The reason why I serve (drawing again)...is because of people. All kinds of people, all around the world. Lost people, rejected people, hurting people, painful people. I serve so that they can find Christ. Why I serve is because I want to reach more people.
You know the other reason why I serve is because I would love to be with a group of people who want to help ease the pain of those that live without the promise of God in their life. The hope, the restoration, the peace, the new beginning -- I love being a part of a dangerous church that is focused on reaching people...all kinds of hurting people. Whom such were some of us before we found Christ. We were in that page...I remember with I was on this page when I didn’t have the love of Christ in my life.
The last thing, and I’ll say this, I guess I just sat for several days and I thought, why do I serve? DeLynn, yes; the kids, yes; the body of Christ, the church -- all kinds of people but ultimately, ultimately Lord, when it gets hard, when it gets tough, when I get offended, when I feel like nobody cares and nobody sees it. Ultimately, what is the thing...what is the ultimate reason why I serve? For me it came down to two lines...it came down to the cross of Jesus Christ. I want to serve because of what Jesus did on the cross. I want to serve Him in my life. I believe He’s worthy of it; I believe He deserves it. And I want to be dedicated to it and I want to surrender to Him that I can serve. Maybe that’s how you feel here, maybe that’s how you feel as you joined us on the Internet, maybe that’s how you feel if you’ve joined us through media. But you want to serve Christ. You’re not perfect, you’ve got issues, you look at those four other areas and one of them says, wow, I’ve not been too well there. But ultimately the cross will transform you and can change your life to be the servant that Jesus wants you to be. Why do I serve? It’s because of that. All of the forgiveness Jesus has given me has just been amazing. Amen?
Bow our heads and let’s pray. Thank you, Father, we love you Lord.
