OBC-WHS-Lesson 8 – Serving God and Others
Psalms 100:2
“Serve the Lord with all gladness: come before his presence with singing.”
Galatians 5:13
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
Our work in the church begins when we are born into God’s family, by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17); believing it (Mark 16:16); repenting of sin (Luke 13:3); confessing that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 10:32-33; Romans 10:9-10; then being baptized for the remission of sin (Galatians 3:27; I Peter 3:21), and concludes when we leave this earth to join Him in heaven. Our love for Him and for our fellowman should cause us to be sensitive to the service we can do and to do it not just when we are asked but all the time, throughout our lives here on earth.
Christian women should be stewards of God. They can be Christian teachers, every Christian woman should be teaching every day. She may not be aware of it because she teaches just by the example she is setting by what she says, does and decides in her every day walk. Another way to be a steward of God is to be Christian servers. This may sound a little strange or far fetched to some but yes, we can be servers. We should be willing to serve in any capacity that opportunity gives us as long as it is in accordance with God’s commands. We should not grumble that we are asked to do too much, that we don’t have time or that we don’t have the ability. If we do this we must admit that we don’t believe what God tells us in Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
CHRISTIANITY +COMMITMENT =MHP
We have all been adequately warned and sometimes even scared into not using products with too much MSG, too much saccharin, too many artificial colors and so on down the line. We know these things can be detrimental to our health so we try to avoid using them and instead make sure we are having the “recommended daily allowance” of good things in our daily diets. However, have we made sure we have incorporated enough MHP into our lives for the recommended daily allowance? MHP is what we have or what we get when we have Christianity plus Commitment evenly distributed in our lives. When we have become the kind of Christian that is committed to Christ and the work of His kingdom then we have acquired or better yet have become a person with enough MHP that it makes us a *Mentally Healthy Person (MHP), which then turns us into a Christian who gives whole hearted service. A Christian who has become a person who is a MHP will want to give their whole hearted service to the Lord. Let’s now look into how to become a high performing Christian.
High Performing Christian:
We must learn to believe in the power of one. Just one person can make a difference with Christ. Let’s look at a few examples of how one person made a difference.
Genesis 12:1-5
Genesis 37-41
Exodus 3:3-21
Judges 2 and 6:22,23; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James2:25
Ruth 1-4
Esther 1-10
Luke 1:39-55
Acts 9:36-43
After a good look at all these people we see that each in their own way were single individuals with power to influence. We can all be that power of one by serving Him and others in any way we can. There are so many ways this can be done. Some examples are: card ministry; teaching children; teaching one on one with individuals who want to study the Bible; visiting the sick, the widows, shut-ins, absentees; being the driver for those who need assistance getting to and from doctors appointments, getting groceries; working in or around the church building and grounds; being a babysitter for mothers who need time to be out; making calls to absentees, sick and so on; helping teachers prepare their visual aids ……..the list could go on and on but I think we see that there are endless ways we can serve the Lord if we but look for them. All it takes is a heart filled with love and the desire to serve. Helping others keeps us busy, keeps us active, and keeps us living our Christianity and not just talking it!
To serve means to obey, minister, assist and servant means helper or slave. We should give such whole hearted service to the Lord that we are His slaves, His ministers obeying by serving.
2. I Thessalonians 1:9 – “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned from idols _____ _______ the living and true God.”
3. Colossians 3:24 – “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ___ ______ the Lord Christ.”
4. Hebrews 9:14 – “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from ______ ______ to ______ the living God?”
5. Ephesians 6:6,7 – 6)”Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the _________ of Christ, _______ the will of God from the _______. 7) With good will ______ ________, as to the Lord, and not to men.”
In this lesson we have learned that in order to have whole hearted service we must first be willing to serve God and others not just ourselves. We have learned that if we accomplish this we will then be rewarded in eternity. In conclusion I will share these words that seem to fit as an ending to this lesson and this course.
Ministry Of The Christian
In order to make heaven our home
We here in life must serve.
Our ministry should be teaching the truth
Of the comfort of God's love.
Ministry is the Christian's estate
One which we should strive to grow into.
Our wealth abounds not in what we have here
But in what will be ours in the beautiful life ever after.
The world in all its glory and pomp
Will pass away one day.
The domes of gold will crumble and fall
The silver will tarnish and burn.
But the good we have done in the name of the Lord
Will remain bright and shiny ever.
We will meet all those gone before
Will be united in the light of the Lord!
We will spend our days in the brightness of the Lord
Praising and honoring Him above.
We will sing of His love on streets of gold
That only dim in the light of Him!
Yes, to strive to make heaven our home
Should be the order of each new day.
The more we strive to walk with Him
The better our hope of eternity will be.
©2002, Beverly Rainwater