Skip to content The Mindset That Makes a Difference - Serving Saves Lives, Part 1 Sep 10 · 52 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Serving saves lives part 1. I wanna talk to you about the mindset that makes a difference. And what's the mindset? A serving mindset. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 20 verse 28,0:12 even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Our savior served. And0:24 because he served, we got saved. You ever put that together? Please do because it's so important because he didn't just stay0:36 here and decide, I'm gonna do this whole thing myself. He actually left behind a church. There's a small church, 120 people, but that church was filled with the Holy Spirit spread0:48 around the region of Judea in modern day Israel. The region of Judea spread up to Antioch around the Mediterranean world, the Roman world of first century spread1:00 into Europe, Africa, came all the way around here to America, and the church is still going strong and people are entering the church every single week. Why? Because people1:12 serve the 1 who served them to see them saved. I want you to write this down. It's kinda like a theme. Let's, like, launch this message series on this thought. Who, write this down,1:23 who might be saved because I served? I was preparing this talk, and I thought, gosh. I think about all the names1:35 that I could list for you of people that got me to this moment. People you don't know, I know, God knows and how many are aware of this that who you serve and1:47 what you do in serving down here yields extensive rewards up there. We are rewarded for what we serve Jesus with here on this1:59 earth. Not just there but here. Our culture tells us live for yourself, follow your dreams, pursue your passions, carpe2:11 diem sees the day YOLO, which is the most asinine statement ever. You don't only live once, you live2:22 twice. It's not your lowest. How you live here will affect how you receive God's grace and gifts there.2:35 And it doesn't matter if you're seen. You don't have to be seen to serve. You don't have to be great to serve. Martin Luther King Junior said anybody can be great because anybody can2:47 serve, And that is true. I was writing this, and I had tears in my eyes as I thought about the names. And I wanna share some of them with you because I am not a self made man. I did not get up here by myself. I did not2:59 come to this place because I determined that I followed my dream to change my no. No. People before you, before me served God and made a place for me to move forward in God.3:12 I can go all the way back to when I was 8 years old in kids ministry in a church, small little church, Western Massachusetts, and the pastor's wife in that smaller church was my Sunday school teacher3:25 and she put up with me her son and 2 of the boys every Sunday morning 9 AM her lessons were basically the same every week Jesus loves you shut up.3:37 Jesus loves you be quiet. Rampunctious boys you don't know her name I know her name God knows her name her name is Judy Norville. She changed my life every week she would lead us in the sinner's prayer3:48 after she did her lesson because she basically knew we needed Jesus. And 1 of those days it took and I got saved. She served4:00 and now I'm serving you and calling you to serve others. And then I thought about my first youth pastor, the Jesus revolution movie, such a powerful move. Did you know that he was part of that movement?4:12 He was a hippie saved by God's grace radically changed transforms name was Donnie Roach and he gave his life his time free of charge to being my youth pastor4:25 and you know he's 1 of these guys that was so in the world that when he got saved he like was as committed to Jesus as he used to be committed to the world. You know, some people can get too saved. You know what I'm4:34 talking about? Too like, everything has to be spiritual. And then he yeah. At the beginning, was like that, but he would sit down with us boys on Wednesday nights, and he would go verse by verse through the Bible, and he4:43 convinced us that that stuff that he enjoyed in his dark days of sin was not nearly as great as loving Jesus. He convinced me that Jesus Christ was better than marijuana.4:56 And because he was so convincing, I have never smoked marijuana in my life. I don't even know what it smells like when I when I'm around it and the smell is in the air. Cheryl always has to point it out to me. Don't ask5:08 me why she knows. I don't know how. Like, what this marijuana? I'm like, I don't even know. And the reason why I don't know is because Donnie Roach, my youth pastor, told me convincingly, there ain't no high like a Jesus5:18 Christ high. Amen, somebody. Names that you don't know, but I know and got me here. I think about a name named a pastor named Pete Privatera. When I was in college,5:30 he was planting a church in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and he asked me. I didn't even have gifts to do what he asked me to do, but I served. I got involved. I became his worship pastor, worship leader, a a5:42 21 year old punk. He gave me opportunity, but then he did more than that. He saw something in me. He knew that I had a passion to go into ministry myself 1 day, and he would meet with me at a diner in Philadelphia every5:54 Saturday morning at 9 AM, and he would disciple me 1 on 1. And I still remember this this Saturday morning, he sat me down and he pushed a book across the table, and he said, is my gift to you, Tim. He wrote a6:06 little note in it. It's still in the shelf in my office to this day. It was a it was a pastor who who wrote a book on church planting. That book changed my life, and here I am6:18 25 years later, and we're planting churches together because pastor Pete Priveterra served me. Don't you understand how it works?6:29 Everyone's life is ripples in a pond. Everyone's life. The rock gets dropped. The rock is Jesus. He drops in your life and the ripples spread farther than you can possibly6:40 know. That's how this movement operates. America has a problem. We don't live up to our ideals anymore.6:54 America has become a give me state, a give me country. Give me. Give me free money. Give me free health care. Give me free college. Give me opportunities. Give me7:06 privilege. Give me responsibility. Give me everything. Give me everything but responsibility. Give me. Give me. Give me. And and we're we're we've got our politicians regularly listen for it because it's coming up7:17 regularly pandering on what they can do for us that's what a politician has to do now promise you goodies because the government loves to play7:29 God. And I was thinking about it. It's almost like a eon ago. It was like a different country. There was a presidential candidate who stood up in front of a crowd of people,7:41 a great senator from Massachusetts, almost like a foreign language to us today. He said, ask not what your country can do for you but what you7:53 can do for your country. And he was a great president and he's founded the Peace Corps to serve other people and he was the champion of civil rights to bring us together and he8:05 promoted the idea of serving your fellow man and it was such a threat to the powers that be our government killed him. Because the government wants to play God and provide8:16 all your needs. And if the government is God, then you don't need God. Do you understand how it works? Because the leaders of this world are under the authority of self centered god named the devil who seeks only to8:27 serve himself, and he wants you to do the same. Don't be a gimme Christian. Because it's 1 thing if unbelievers live gimme8:39 lifestyles, but it's a terrible thing if God's people live gimme lifestyles. So many people come to church based on, well, can you do for me? What what what do you have for my kids?8:51 What do you have for my teenager? What do you have for my young adults? What do you have for my marriage? What do you have for my financial products? What do you have for my community? What do you have my knowledge? What8:59 do have? What you have? Do you have? Give me. Me. Give me. Give me. And I get at at first, that should be a part of the church experience. We wanna serve you. But once you've been served, it's time to serve. Some people9:10 would jump from church. I've watched them. They jump from church to church depending on the age range of their kids. I'm going to bring my kids to this church because I got a really great kids program. I'm bring9:22 my church now to this church because it got a really great team program. I'm bring my church over here to this because it's got a singles. It's like, what are you doing? Are you serving yourself or serving Jesus? Give me9:32 Christians. The world needs less of them. This is why the world doesn't want anything to do with the movement of Jesus because we're give me Christians. And it's time to not be give me Christians. There's a story9:44 Jesus shares about in Luke chapter 15 about a a son who was in his father's house. He had 2 sons, and the younger son comes to his father. He has 2 lines in the whole play, and his 2 lines are this. Father,9:56 give me my share of the estate. We call him the prodigal son. And the father gave him his share of the estate, and he ran off, and he spent it on wild living and loose women. Then a famine hit the land, and he's dried up10:06 all of his money, and his friends left. They were sitting in the pig's side feeding pigs, longing to eat the food. He was feeding pigs, rock bottom. And his second line goes like10:17 this, how many of my father's servants have it so much better than me? I will arise, and I will go to my father, and I will say to him10:29 this is his line. Remember what he said when he first left? What did he say when he first left the father's house? Father, get me. Get me. Rock bottom hits, and he says, I will go to my father, I will say,10:41 father, I've sinned against heaven on you. I'm no longer worthy to call your son. Make me like 1 of your servants. Did you know that? That's the story of the prodigal son.10:54 He moved from a give me mindset to a make me mindset. I'm asking that this series, we do that as a church. Amen, somebody. See, want you to write this down.11:05 Salvation is real in my life when I move from a give me mindset to a make me mindset. I I don't I don't want the church just to be there for me.11:17 I want to be the church and be there for others. It's it's it's ask not what your church can do for you.11:31 Ask what you can do for your church. Amen. What what is your you're a wonderful church, but I know we can do better.11:44 There's no way we're starting 2 new locations. There's no way we're starting Saturday night services here in North Delaware, and we might go to more services at other locations without more team members. My wife and I11:55 were at lunch the other day, couple well, about 10 days ago. Before last weekend. I don't preach on Labor Day weekend usually, and, so I wasn't preaching on Labor Day weekend down in Apollo Beach. And so we were having12:07 lunch. She was a little bit irked. She was a bit, you know, bothered. I said, what was wrong? What's going on? I could tell. She said, oh, I just realized that the person I scheduled for Waters kids in Apollo Beach has12:17 canceled on me last minute. Now it's up to me to do it myself. And that happens way more often than it should at Waters church. You don't understand that when you say yes and then you say no,12:30 like ripples in a pond, only bad ripples that affect so many other people's lives, and people who were not scheduled have to step up and change the plan. Listen. Don't do that. Don't do be12:41 reliable. Be faithful. Let your word be your word. Yes be yes, and no be no. Amen? Amen. Because the people that aren't even staff members are counting on you to follow12:53 through with serving. So she was just, you know, struggling, and I'm like, oh, and I said something that I probably regret. I said, well, I'll do it with you. To my everlasting13:05 astonishment, she said, okay. So I, your lead pastor, for the first time in our church's history served in Waters kids in Apollo Beach, Florida last Sunday.13:17 But I said to myself, I'm not just gonna do it, I am gonna film it. And so I did, so that I could share with you13:29 my adventures of serving in Waters kids. Watch this. Time to gear up.13:44 Damn. Think it fits pretty nice. Let's get going. Waters kids. What?13:56 Okay. Right away, noticed that there's a lot13:58 of kids.13:59 I am outnumbered.14:19 Okay. I just had to get away because it's 10 minutes into service. These people are nuts. These kids are crazy. A few moments later. It's getting crazy in here.14:30 I don't know if I can take much more. Good news. It's over. The parents are picking up14:38 the kids.14:39 This is the future right here. Right here behind me. The future of our church.14:44 How important is that? So important. The best thing about Waters kids is that even if you do it poorly, they can't tell. They still think you did a great job. Right?15:03 Yeah. Keep pastor in the pulpit. I'm making a deal with you guys. If you don't step in and serve, I'm gonna give the pulpit away more and serve and waters kids. Kids are that important to the movement of15:15 Jesus. That's where the real action is. I say this all the time. You think we're babysitting your kids so I can teach you about Jesus? No. I'm babysitting you so that we can indoctrinate and brainwash your kids to love15:26 Jesus. Consider yourself babysat. Amen. See, I don't like that term brainwash. Every brain needs to be washed. Amen?15:38 Just depends upon the soap. We got the soap of Jesus. Alright. So, anyway, I think about the people that don't get seen and they serve, and this is the problem with our country is that we we we've we've lost our15:50 serving mentality. You know how much of America is built on serving? Our police cars. What what does it say on the side of our police cars? To protect and to serve. What do we call the people that we elect to office? We16:01 call them public servants. Teachers are public or kids serve. They're serving kids. That's that's the heartbeat of America. You serve think about it. You serve in the military.16:13 Did you know that jury duty is actually technically called jury service? Community service is a punishment for some people. Like, when you do something bad, they're like, okay. Now you're gonna have to serve a community.16:25 Like, that's how you undo what you did bad. Even criminals who go to jail, we call it serving time. Think about these these themes of our country. The theme of the16:37 Bible is serving. I did a quick Bible search of how many people God called servants. How many people does the Bible call servants? You'll be astonished this morning at how many and the16:49 names on the list. I wrote it down. It's not on the screen. I'm gonna name them for you. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah,17:00 Ezekiel, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Job, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Jonah, Ruth, Esther, Mary, the apostles, Peter, James, John.17:11 James, the brother of Jesus opens his letter at the end of our bibles by saying, James, a servant of Jesus Christ. The Bible is17:23 covered with servants. People who heard from God and served other people. This is what our world needs now more than ever17:35 before because we got problems. America has got problems. And here's what we do. Every year, we got really jazzed up about voting.17:48 Like, do something other than vote. Do something other than complain. You have a choice. Curse the darkness or light up a candle. Racism is17:59 a problem in our country. Serious problem. Okay. Beyond the vote, who other than you that doesn't look like you are you serving? Who have you welcomed into your18:11 community? That's a different shade of skin color than you. To show the world that the church of Jesus Christ is not a white man's religion, not a black man's religion, it's for18:23 every color and shade under God's glorious son. We are all made in his image. Fatherlessness is a serious problem.18:35 Fatherless so we could curse that or we could serve in waters kids. Young men could step up and serve in waters kids and love kids in Jesus' name. My wife tells me this because18:47 she's in charge of Waters kids. She says, the kids light up when a young man who loves Jesus is involved in the ministry because we need a father figure.18:59 That's how we can undo this curse upon our country. Abortion is a curse. It's a sin. It's a grievous sin against the heart of god. Ripping apart an unborn innocent child in this19:11 mother's womb is a curse. It's a sin. K. We can curse the darkness. We can do something about it. And water's church, here's what you do. You bring your ties to our church. Our church gives some of that money to19:22 pregnancy resource centers outside of our church to save unborn children from murder in their mother's womb. You have a choice in life. Curse the darkness19:35 or light a candle. And you can light a candle by stepping up to serve. I got some movements in this series, some move for. Week 1 is serve here. That's19:47 movement number 1. Serve here. Why? Because this is a nice safe place to try out serving. Because if you stink at it, we'll still have grace for you. Then there's19:58 movement number 2, serve there. Movement number 3, serve anywhere. And then movement number 4 in the series, serve where no 1 else dares. How do you serve your20:10 enemy? We'll get to that. But but this this is our opportunity to light a candle in our world. And so Paul is writing to the Philippian church. We're in Philippians chapter 2. If you got a bible, open up to20:21 it. Philippians chapter 2, gonna read this passage together because he's talking to a church that he loves. Actually, Philippians is a letter from Paul the apostle to a church in the first century in this Roman colony20:33 Roman city of Philippi, and, it's a great church. Actually, it's a thank you letter because they've given to his ministry financially and spiritually. They prayed for him. They've served him. They loved20:45 him. But Paul has seen some things. He started to see some cracks in their armor, and here's what was happening in Philippi. They were starting to become divisive. They were starting to become angry at each other. They20:56 were starting to separate. You know who loves division? Satan. He he divided the angels from God. He divides husband from wife. Here here's this. He divides21:07 fathers and mothers from children. There's a big curse on our country right now of children who won't talk to their parents, and they won't talk to their21:19 parents because of who their parents voted for. You you know that whoever is present you know that the nations of this world, the kingdoms of this world are under the auspices of the devil.21:32 Whenever we vote and elect somebody, we're just electing someone else to work for the devil. Really, that's what we're doing. The kingdom of this world is not the kingdom of Christ. Okay?21:45 If you let politicians divide you from mom and dad, shame on you. Because they've only got 4 to 8 years there. Your parents are your parents for21:57 life. How did I get on that? I don't know. Somebody here needed to hear that. I don't know. That wasn't in my notes. But the point of the matter is is in Philippi, the church was22:08 dividing, and and the devil loves to divide the church. The devil the devil wants to divide you from this church, and he will he will use the stupidest complaint to get you to walk out22:20 the doors. Oh, the pastor said this. I'm leaving. Oh, they didn't welcome me. I'm leaving. Oh, that person said that I'm leaving, and the devil does a happy dance. And this is what was happening in Philippi. So Paul22:31 writes this, like thank you letter. Remember what you've done to serve me. Now serve each other. And he gives us the 3 ingredients to serve. And I want you to stand with me for the reading of God's word at every at both22:41 locations, if you don't mind. Philippians chapter 2, we're gonna read this from verse 1 to look at the 3 ingredients that make it the of the mindset that make the difference. Verse 1, Philippians 2. So if there is22:53 any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of 123:04 mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility count other people more significant than yourselves. Let each of you not23:16 look only for his own interest but also the interest of others. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, that23:28 is to be held on to. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a23:40 cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that23:51 Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What a powerful passage. Let's pray together and ask God to open our hearts to it. Father, thank you,24:03 Lord, for serving so that we might be saved. Inspire us to serve so the people beyond us might be saved. And24:15 I know that they're not going this your people are not going to be inspired to serve because of me. They're gonna be inspired to serve because of you. So help us all to see24:28 Jesus. In his name, pray, and everybody said, amen. God bless you. Have a seat. 3 ingredients of the mindset that makes a difference. Write this down. Number 1,24:40 humbled by God's or Christ's goodness. If you want a mindset that makes a difference, if you wanna be a servant hearted person, you need regular reminders of24:52 what God has done for you, and that is exactly what Paul does here in this passage. He reminds Philippians, think of what you've got in Christ Jesus and let me just ask25:04 this question of both locations. Say a hearty amen if you agree with this. Christ has blessed your life significantly. Amen. Well, how so?25:15 Paul unpacks that in verse 1. Look at it again. He says, so if there is and and let me just stop at if because if sounds skeptical. It's not skeptical in the original Greek language. Allow me to sound very25:27 intelligent for a moment. The Greek text here is in the first class conditional, which means that he's assuming it's true. He's not questioning if it's a reality. It would be better translated,25:39 so since there is. This is a fact about what it is in your life to be in Christ. What do we got? 4 things. We've got encouragement in Christ. We've got encourage the word in Greek is25:51 paraklesis. That's the same word that Jesus uses in John 14 and 16 for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit encourages God's people what is encouraged about encourage has the word courage in26:02 it so to have courage to be encouraged is to have courage in your heart did you know that that's what the Holy Spirit came to do for you? The Holy Spirit came to do this for26:14 you, to give you courage. I was raised Pentecostal. I thought that people filled with the Holy Spirit were weirdos. They were crazy people who spoke another tongues and acted weird and shook26:26 sometimes and said weird things out of order in church services. That was my experience. But I took a time I took time to look at it in the Bible, and when I realized that the scriptures teach this, that the people with26:35 the Holy Spirit are bold. They're strong. They're confident. Is that you? You've got that. If you've got the Holy Spirit, you've got boldness in Christ Jesus. It doesn't mean you're not gonna face any26:47 no problem. It doesn't mean you're gonna have an easy life. It just means that when you face problems and when you face difficulties and when you face27:09 I've been born again, I've got Jesus in me, and if God is for me, who can be against me? Number 2, you got comfort from his love.27:21 The word comfort here, also an encouraging word. Parametheon is the feeling of being loved. Do you feel God's love? Do you have you ever felt God's love? 1 of my greatest27:32 appreciative comments about this church is when people tell me, and we will see a video of this in a moment, when people tell me all the time that from the moment they walked through the doors of our church, they felt27:43 loved. You didn't realize how important the frontline people are in our parking lots and our greeting team and our usher team to love people in to this moment right here so that while I'm yelling at them for27:55 45 minutes, they they can they can bear it because they've been loved into it. Amen. Then then he says he got participation in the spirit. That word participation is28:06 koinonia. That means commonality, fellowship. I've got a family in the Holy Spirit. When you go to other places and find Christians, you ever28:18 have this experience? Where you go to strange places and you meet a Christian, you're like, you're a Christian. I'm a what? Yeah. Brotherhood, sisterhood right away. You know what that is? That's the koinonia that has28:30 been produced in your heart by the Holy Spirit. It's a common bond because God, the Holy Spirit lives in both of you. Amen? Ain't that awesome? He says you got affection and sympathy. The word28:42 affection and sympathy, they go together because you get these from Christ. And the word affection is in Greek. It's a word that you say it and you spray it at the same time. But it means28:54 it means to have this gut level love for someone, soul level partnership, that when 1 of you suffers, your your your guts get twisted in29:05 knot. This is what you get in Christ. Now there is a qualification. There's a qualifier to get all these things. Online people, TV people, listen up. You actually29:17 have to be in church. You actually have to be in community. And to the people in our church services who are not yet in life group, I would say, you actually have to get in life group.29:30 You have to face each other, love see the true body of Christ, and feel those things. And those humble us. It's humbling.29:43 I don't know if anybody's like me, but I mess up. I mess up a lot. I sin still to this day. I I I in some ways, I'm so29:54 disgusted by what I still do and say, And God in his grace has not saw fit to split the earth and toss me into hell.30:06 And that humbles my heart like you have no idea. I can't believe that God puts up with me. Anybody with me on this?30:18 Like some of you, you come from the positive reinforcement side of the world, And you can't handle you can't handle preaching like this because you want people to come along and say, you're30:30 awesome. You're wonderful. You're a champion. You're a snowflake. And you become a snowflake, and everything hurts you. Everything triggers you. Everything is a microaggression. I mean, like, grow up.30:42 You're always worried about whatever everybody else has microaggressed you. Haven't you microaggressed others? I mean, who made you the Virgin Mary? I mean, honestly.30:54 Like, stop. Here's the fact. We all stink, and Jesus loves us. My value does not31:06 come from me thinking I'm great. My value comes from God loving me in spite of me, and that message gets31:18 me through the dark seasons of my life. Now, if you have that,31:30 give it away. That's what Paul's saying here. That's where he's gonna get to. And every person here who's come to Waters Church and said, I feel love of God here. Alright. I want you to write this down because it's31:40 important. Because everyone here is is here because someone they may or may not know served. Like, mentioned all my names. I wonder31:52 I think everybody who loves Jesus could get up here and name 3 or 4 people yourself that led you to know Jesus. So if that has32:04 happened for you, it's time to make it happen through you. Amen? And so number 2 in your notes, aware of32:16 Christ's body. 3 ingredients of a mindset that make a difference. You're aware of Christ's body, which means let me let me put it in more striking32:27 vernacular. The church is not about you. Amen. Not about you.32:40 It's not about your needs. Not about what you want. Not about your dreams. Please do not use the church to build your32:51 life to accomplish your dreams and your purposes that's that's a horrible way to to use the movement for which the the Son of33:03 God shed his blood it's not about you CS Lewis famously said, if you want a religion that makes you feel comfortable, I don't recommend Christianity.33:18 Christ caused us to come and die and give our lives for others. We serve a savior. Listen. We serve a savior who the night before he was betrayed, the night of, actually,33:31 he got down on his hands and knees, wrapped the towel around his waist, took a bucket of water, and washed the disciples' feet. And here's the real kicker. Are you ready for this, John? Make sure we know this. He washed33:40 Judas' feet. Judas was gonna use those feet to go to the chief priest and get money to to to betray Jesus. And the reason why he had clean feet that night was because Jesus33:52 served. That is crazy to me. That is nuts. It's not about you. He says this in front in in verse34:04 2. He says, complete my joy. In other words, make me happy. And and and Paul is writing this from prison to the Philippians. And he doesn't say, here's how you can make me34:15 happy. Get me out of here. No. He said, I will be happy if I hear that the body of Christ in Philippi is working together and people are laying down their lives to serve34:27 each other. So here's how that happens. You have you have the same mind, mindset. You have the same love. You are in full accord, 1 mind. You do nothing. This is the hardest34:39 passage in the Bible, in my opinion, the hardest verse in the Bible. Here it is. Ready? Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit. Vain glory in the King James version means empty glory. Anything that you do to34:50 promote you is just empty glory. And then the next line, but in humility count others more, what? Significant than yourselves.35:02 You know, what happens in church is, and this is gonna hurt. This is gonna pinch some of you. We say we're serving god35:13 but secretly we're serving ourselves. Amen. Now, we have a great couple of worship teams in our churches but hasn't always been like that and this stage35:25 is a trap. This stage is a trap. Because you can very easily think, I'm serving God by singing on stage or preaching on stage or being35:37 on stage, but I'm really serving myself. It's taken me and I'm not even there yet. I'm still not there yet fully. Take me all of my life to this point to realize that I am up here35:49 not for me, but for you. I am up here to connect you to Jesus. That's it. So it has nothing to do with how you respond to me, if you like me, if you appreciate it has nothing to do with that36:00 because it's not about me. It's about you and Christ. And sometimes we get to a place even subconsciously, where we are serving Christ selfishly. I call it sanctified selfishness.36:12 Sanctified selfishness. I I I do this for others, but not really. I'm doing it for me. Jesus had the harshest condemnation for people like that. He said in his day, he said, look. Look at those people. They pray to be36:23 seen by others. They give to be seen by others. Everything they do is to be seen by others. You please do not be like that. Don't get up on this. I I I wanna tell you how many times I've seen36:35 people come up to me. I got about a handful of people that have come up to me over the years of leading this church, and they come and they do, hey, pastor, if you ever need me to preach, if you ever need me to preach, I36:46 got a theological degree. I've got this certificate from Teeny Jakes. I went to Joyce Meyer's ministry. I did all these. Who cares about your certificates?36:59 Who cares about your theological degree? Can you serve somebody? And everybody that gets up here on this stage and preaches, beginning with pastor Chris all the way down, have been people who have proven37:10 themselves worthy to serve in the unseen spaces for years. You start our pastor Tom in Apollo Beach started in the parking lot.37:22 Started in the park. This is what he was doing. Can you do that? Because that would be awesome if we could have some of you.37:34 That'd be great, especially some of you good looking people. You know? Worship team members who say, okay, great. You're up here. Now serve somewhere and nobody sees you. That's37:46 the body of Christ. Be in the body of Christ. Amen. Right up here in North Attleboro. Just heard an amen. He made me remember. 1 of our best worship leaders is right now doing sound. Nobody sees him. If you only care37:58 about him if he does a bad job. But but but he's there serving. That's the body of Christ. You know that you're serving self when you think you're serving38:09 Christ? Couple of ways, you know? When you see other people's gifts as a threat instead of a blessing. Listen to this again. I told you this was gonna pinch, but it becomes a competition.38:21 How come they're up there and I'm not there? How come they're doing that and I'm not doing that? How come nobody sees my gifts? How come everybody sees their gifts? How everybody says, what are we doing? Imagine if the38:32 New England Patriots or the Tampa Bay Bucks worked like that. Imagine if they were like, well, I'm not throwing the path because nobody appreciates me. An offensive lineman, nobody38:43 cares about him until he misses the tackle, but his job is essential. That's how it is in the body of Christ. There are so many people who serve in unseen places, and they lay down theirShow more
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