Called to Serve

Success-To be successful in this world is the common denominator that all people have to drive them in life. But how do we measure success? (Elaborate and list). Well Jesus tells us that in the church, the greatest will the least and again the one who will be great must first become a servant of all. The most successful people are those who put others first. And nothing has produced greater civil servants than the church. (List all of the black people you can).

Harriet Tubman-500 slaves to freedom Frederick

Douglass-I am not free until my people are free Sojourner Truth-Aint I a woman Richard

Allen-AME WEB Dubois, Ida B Wells and others-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Martin Luther King Jr. stand up against injustice and racism and stand in 1963 and tell us about his dream 45 years later that produced a Barak Obama to be the first African American to accept candidacy for president of these yet to be United States.

The greatest must be the servant of all.

The ultimate success we press for is the reward we will receive in heaven. Jesus isn’t going to say “well done my successfully child”, He is going to say “well done my good and faithful servant.” Well it will all be determined by how much you are willing to serve.

Deacon-diakonos –to serve, literally answer to the commands of the master. And while all through 2000 years of historical achievements of the church, the deacons have always been at the forefront of service. If we are to be great servants of the Most High God, we must learn to serve with the spirit of a deacon, and what other deacon to give us a lesson than the first deacon ever. (Talk about Stephen)

Serve full of the Holy Spirit (v.3a)

The first and really the only prerequisite to recruit these men was that they would be full of the Spirit and wisdom. If you are not full of the Spirit, that means you have not committed your life to Jesus. If you are not sealed and filled with the Spirit this means you have yet to receive the free gift of salvation and thus, you don’t have any business serving in church. And here is a problem I have seen happen in churches.

Serve full of Love (v.3b)

Though it is not explicit it the text it is implied by the very notion that these men were willing to serve tables, and this would only be the beginning. The bible tells us to owe nothing to anyone except to love them. This first requirement of service might seem a bit elementary to the mature Christian, but then again all too often do we find ourselves serving others not out of a selfless love, but out of selfish gain. People will serve not to meet the needs of the church or the community but so that they can get the recognition and accolades the feel they deserve. Let us remind us that we do not serve as slaves with a fear of being punished, nor as employees hoping to get a bonus, but as children of God out of love. And let me encourage you deacons and members right now, its not always going to be easy to serve full of love. There will come times when you attempt to offer your love to someone and they won’t want it. But guess what? Jesus said “this is how they will know you are my disciples, your love for one another”. So, when someone curses you to your face and turns around and asks for prayer, love them. When you see a youth and he or she is dressed in an inappropriate manner, just love them. When you are at your job and the people you work with gossip about you, just love them. When you are on your way to church and someone cuts you off on the road, don’t you get ugly, just love them. After all, I don’t know about you but there was a time when I was not so lovable myself. Maybe you were born saved but there was a time when I was quick dead in my sin, but thanks be to God when I didn’t even love myself Jesus loved men and sent someone along my path to serve me being full of love. We know that Stephen served with love because verse three tells us that he had a good reputation. I think you get it. We in order to sever like Deacon Stephen we must serve being full of love.

Serve full of faith (v.5)

The second thing that must be in order to serve effectively one must be full of faith and power. It is mention twice that Deacon Stephen was full of faith. And, do not get it twisted this is not a faith in his own power to create things out of airy words or a faith in his own strength, but this type of faith is the faith that Jesus spoke about when he said “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” But, the key in this faith thing is Faith in God, not just any god but Jesus the Christ. And here is one of the greatest challenges of the fallen human condition. People are willing to put their faith in anything and anyone else but Jesus. Let’s think about it:

We will wake up in the morning and not question if the sun will rise.

We will drive to work and not question if it’s going to be there when we arrive.

We will sit down on the church pew and not question if its sturdy.

You need to serve with some Faith!!!

Serve full of Power (v.8)

Then you have to serve with some power. The word here for power is the same word used by Jesus when He told his disciples to wait in the upper room until they received power from on high on the day of Pentecost. That word for power in the written Greek New Testament is dunamis. Now get this dunamis is root word that we use in English to say dynamite. So the power here in the text is not a ruling authoritative power but a mighty explosive power; A power that comes from the inside out. You might say “what is this power?” well; we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that power! Greater is he who is within you, that power! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that power! And let me tell you that a stick of dynamite is worthless unless you light the wick because all of its power is on the inside; you first need a touch of fire to get on the inside. Well Jesus came to baptize with fire that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the fire, your faith is the wick and the dunamis power is the stick of dynamite and when you let the Holy Ghost, touch your faith and ignite your fire, BOOM you can pray for the sick and they will get well, BOOM you can work with the poor and they be fed, BOOM you can go to that job and get that promotion, BOOM speak to mountains and they move, BOOM broken relationship are fixed, BOOM souls are saved, BOOM all your bills are paid, BOOM you ministry will bear fruit, BOOM your life is right. All I am saying is that if you want to see some change in your life, if you want to serve like Deacon Stephen then you must serve full of faith and power.