Serve
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: Begin with the beginning - Ephesians 4:10-16
Transitional Sentence: So I have come full circle back to the beginning with:
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
Service
a. These Verses - Apostles etc… and saints.
So, you are the saints, you are the ones that should be doing works of service for the building up of the body of Christ.
b. But what is Service? - διακονία diakonia - also translated as ministry
The action of helping or doing work for someone.
In this particular case that someone is our Lord Christ Jesus through your brothers and sisters in His body and the lost souls that God wants found.
c. Why service is important… We are each given gifts to use -
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.
6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Gifts specifically mentioned in the next few verses are: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing spirits, tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
But these are only a few of the many gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit.
Other gifts include: administration, speaking of administration, can you administer the functions of a church, because I’m failing as the secretary. And then there is apostleship, evangelism, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, pastor/shepherd, serving/ministering, and teaching. There are others that aren’t mentioned very often like voluntary poverty or a willingness to live with very little. So which gift or gifts do you have?
We all have gifts. We all need to use our gifts because the ministry of the church needs to be completed. In other words, “Completing the Great commission will require the mobilization of every fully devoted disciple.” So, those gifts that you are given can be used for the glory of God by using them in service to the body of Christ.
That brings up the question - what is a fully devoted disciple?
2. Five different kinds of disciples serving the body of Christ.
a. Paper plate - does nothing
b. Plate - Holds up the rest with prayer
c. Orange - oldest orange tree (picture) This is the Mother Orange Tree - planted in Oroville California in 1856. It averages 600 pounds of oranges a year since then.
An orange tree grows but never really changes. Every year it produces a crop and goes back to its normal routine. VBS once a year or what it wants to do when it wants to do it.
d. Eggs - Record breaking egg laying - 371 in 365 days. The average is about 290 eggs a year(picture of chicken) It’s a routine, just something she does.
This disciple does a lot of work but never really changes - (Juggle some eggs - home, work, church)
e. Bacon - Swine to carcass to package to plate. (pictures) Dies and changes to become the servant of God.
Dies to self and lives for God.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
3. How to serve...
a. Available positions
We have the 6 Teams - Building and grounds, Discipleship, Fellowship, Missions, Outreach, Worship.
Possible positions to fill include but are not limited to: setting up and cleaning up the coffee, tea and treats or with fellowship meals, working in the nursery, or helping in a classroom with kids, teaching kids, decorating the facility, be a helping hand by helping with events and other activities, help keep up the facility and improve it, safety team, encounter group host, encounter group leader, tech and audio visual, praise team, advertising team, welcome team, youth ministry helper or leader, prayer team. There are a lot of things that you can do. To do all of these ministries we need some plates, orange trees, chickens, and swine. Put your gifts to work for God’s glory.
There are other positions that could at some point be available, like Team leader for each of the 6 teams, treasurer, recording treasurer, we could use a book keeper, a recording secretary, we could even use a secretary if someone would want to volunteer some time and talent to fixing the mess, because like I said - I’m failing at being the secretary.
Exit: There you have it. Service in a nutshell. Every saint in the body of Christ should be serving the Lord in some way through the ministry of the Church.
Now you know how I see this church changing as we grow and impact the community for Christ. You may or may not like it, if you don’t I’m open to other ideas.
So, we can fix the place up to get rid of stumbling stones or not, we can change the way we run the service, or not, we can start encounter groups, or not and everyone can serve the Lord in some way within the body of Christ, or not. All of this doesn’t change the fact that we have a purpose and that purpose is to make disciples. If we are going to help the lost out of darkness and into the light we need to have a plan and this is a plan. It will work if the Lord is in it and we work together. If He’s not in it then we will need a different plan.
So pray. Pray that we might know the will of the Lord for this church. Grow as we are, Change and grow or die. It’s up to Him but we can pray and listen for His voice to move us forward. Remember what Isaiah 43:18-19 says:
18 “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.
19 “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.
Watch for it - that new thing to spring forth.
Pray!
Celebrative worship with this song!!!
We Win!!!!!!