The Bible teaches us that God is the creator of the Universe and that he is pleased with the creation of the earth and all living things. The Psalmist affirms this truth saying of human beings: "You were created for his pleasure." May we be pleasing to God!
Rick Warren in his book The Purpose Driven Life has written: "God did not need to create you, but He chose to create you for His own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, His glory, His purpose, and his delight.” Do we bring delight to God? Or sadness? Or frustration? Or Pride? Or Regret?
Some years ago, I realized how important my earthly father was to me and how much of my energy in life was expended to please him. Frankly he kept the bar of acceptance as high as the bar of excellence and thus I lived under the pressure and constant drive to exceed, or to improve, or to make better whatever I was involved in. But he took pleasure in the accomplishments of his sons and we took pleasure in pleasing him.
With the death of my father, I began to think that what I should have been doing all along was to live in such a way that I would make God, my heavenly father, pleased with me. And then both my earthly father and my heavenly father would be pleased and thus I would have killed two birds with one stone. Although that is a poor analogy, isn't it.
On Pensacola Beach there are a number of different kinds of crabs which creepy crawl around by day and night. And the same God who makes the sunsets, and created you and me, made each crab that walks the beaches of the earth. There are some 5000 species of crabs. There are over 28,000 species of birds that fly the air and that many more animals that walk the earth, and fish that swim the oceans waters. None are quite the same, each a bit different, each unique in their own way. And so are we. Don't you find it strange that we try to dress alike, or to make our hair look alike. We are created differently but we try to push everyone into the same mold. There is no one way to please God as we are all different.
There is this wonderful statement in Thomas Moore's book The Care of the Soul, which I want to share with you:
"Let your soul speak for itself. Some souls hold conversation with God in music, and some in the sowing of seed, and in others in the smell of sawed wood. Still others in the affectionate understanding of their friends. All souls are not alike. Utter your own prayer, in the language of your own joy. Repent of your own sin and let your lament be your own song and not another's. When you worship, thank God for whatever has been given you. Worship in joy 'till it be so slight that no other soul would think it worthy of mention. Let your own insight sing their praise of creation and your own handiwork adores the invisible creator. Quit dressing your soul up in somebody else's piety. Your soul is not a pauper. Let it live its own life. Truth is just as necessary for the life of the soul as faith and humility. And truth is, not merely the final, authoritative statement of the universe' wide design or life's deepest meaning. No, truth is the soul being itself. If then you have begun to build, remember that the beginning is not enough. Take upon yourself the disciplines of growth. Live freely and in faith. Keep your eyes alert and your soul humble so that you may not miss the visit of the eternal in your neighborhood of circumstances or experiences. Most of all, untie your soul. Give it room to breath. Let it play. Do not be ashamed of it. It is the child of the eternal and destined for greater things than you can imagine."
Let us live in such a way that God takes delight in us, that we bring Him pleasure. May our lives bring a smile to the face of God that he will laugh with delight over us.
God laughs with delight when we worship him. He has to be happy today.
When we come to his table, and remember the sacrifice of Christ Today, God has to be pleased with you. Today as we come to His table, He has to be pleased.
Many of you are aware that when your mother calls you to the table for dinner that you better come in a timely manner. When she calls, you need to come. Well, on Sundays God calls us to his table and He is pleased when He sees us here.
Jesus gave two commandments: "First, Love God with all your mind, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength and love your neighbor."
God delights in us when we worship Him and are helpful to others.
Jesus once said that the last judgment, which will determine who goes to heaven and who goes to hell it will be on the basis of "when you do good unto the least of society, you do it unto him."
Whatever we do for others, we are doing it for God.
The Old Testament Prophet Micah asked: "With what shall I come before the God my maker and bow myself before him? He has show you Oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
John the Baptist baptized Jesus and many other persons in the Jordan River. He commanded the people to bear fruit worthy of their repentance. And they asked him: "What shall we do?" And he said: "Whoever hast two coats share with anyone who has none and whoever has food, do the same."
So today gives us the opportunity to make God pleased.
God smiles at us and is delighted when we obey him wholeheartedly in our worship of Him and helpfulness to others.
One reason Christians tithe is because they know this will please God.
In the Old Testament, David in the Psalms once wrote: "I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing." Does your giving for Christian causes and people, cost you something? Paul wrote in Romans 12: "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God as this is your spiritual worship."
God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, occasional worship when it is convenient, and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires your full devotion, not little bits and pieces of your life.
Someone has translated Romans 12:1 in this delightful way: "Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life and place it before God as an offering.
So, the medieval monks "washed dishes and swept the floor for God's pleasure"
Martin Luther said: "A dairymaid can milk cows to the glory of God." And there will be those who cross your path is week that you can help.
Thus the Bible encourages us saying: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord."
May God smile upon you. May He lift up his countenance upon you. And give you peace!
We were formed for God's family. The Bible reveals that Jesus accomplished great things through the 12 disciples that formed the earliest of Churches and thus, the First Church family.
Rick Warren in his book "The Purpose Driven Life" says that the church, God's family, is one of five identified purposes for which we were created as human beings. The first being that we were "Planned for God's Pleasure." And this the second, that we were "Formed for God's Family-the church."
I hope that this past week you pleased God in some tangible way, something you did or something you didn't do, and I also hope you enjoyed the process of intentionally trying to please God, to bring delight to our creator. And if you didn't I hope you will try it this week. Try it, you will like it!
Today, consider this: "We were formed for God's family". Life is just better when it is shared. God has placed a longing in our heart to belong, to be in relationship, and for sure, it is one of the basic needs of every human being. Our speaker at last Wednesday's Lenten service said: "It's all about relationships." There is a longing in our heart to belong!
Even in the perfect, sinless environment of Eden, God said to Adam: "It is not good for man to be alone." Just as God chose not to be alone and created us, so he formed a family for Adam and for us so that we will never have to be alone anymore.
I go alone to a major museum in this nation and all the time I think, I wish Jane was here because when she is with me I see more and understand more and appreciate more and enjoy more. God intends for us to experience life together. That's why he has given us the Church.
When you are related to the church, I mean vitally related, I don't mean spasmodically, or half heartily, or somewhat or occasionally a visitor. I don't mean a Christmas/Easter, or when your grandchildren sing kind of participant.
I mean when you worship on Sundays. When you take Sabbath with the family, every Sunday! And when you work as a volunteer beside someone else, when you study the Bible or some Christian book with a small group, when you write your check that supports the helping ministries of the church, When You Are Related, Vitally related, You Overcome Your Self-Centered Isolation and you experience a sense of belonging. The Bible says that we are put together, joined to get here, built together, heirs together, fitted together and held together, and that we will be caught up together. "It is not good that you should be alone."
We need other Christians who can speak God's Word to us when we become uncertain and disheartened and confused. When our eyes are blinded by hurt and hatred, we need the eyes of fellow believers. When our voice spews the words, which curse on those who have hurt us, we need the voice of fellow believers who will tell us to hush our mouth till we have found peace. When our future is dim, we need the encouraging word of Christ from the mouth of other Christians.
I am thankful that I am a part of this Church. I'm thankful that my parents brought me to their church when I was a baby and had me baptized in the church family and that the church family cared for me. I'm thankful that when I was about 11 years old I joined the church and a large lady hugged my neck and almost squeezed the life out of me because she was so happy. I was happy because she didn’t smother me. I am thankful that when I was a teenager and objected to coming to church because I didn't fit in, and it was boring, and I wanted to sleep late, and whatever. I'm thankful that my parents ignored my pleas and told me as long as I was in their home and ate from their table, I would go to church on Sunday. I am thankful that they had more sense that I did when I had absolutely no sense at all.
I am thankful for the church, those imperfect communities I have been privileged to have been a part of over all the years of my life. Here is an integral family of love.
Here in the church is found a life lab for practicing unselfish, sympathetic, caring, steadfast love. Here is where godly values are appreciated and taught and immorality is scorned and evil is condemned. Here is a place bad behavior, gossip, cursing is not appreciated and where we have a zero tolerance for drug use, sexual immorality and judgmental ugliness.
Do you think you are going to get that on TV? Among your peers at school? Among your buddies at the bar, or the guys on the golf course? Is loving, kindness what you are going to experience in your business relationships or in the world among strangers? Even if we leave such things as values to be handled by the family, please be aware that more than 50 percent of our families in America are broken due to divorce, while many children experience their live-in parent living in with someone who is not their parent. Add to the 50% of the families which are "broken," and the pseudo families living out of wedlock, the families who stay together with unhealthy relationships and you have a situation in the human family today across America that is intolerable. Values have been learned from the TV or they have chosen to live like their friends talk, nice kids, because we have bought them nice clothes and helped them get through school, but they haven't gotten the value system which the church teaches and have no idea that God the Holy Spirit can guide them. Consequently they have no clue who they are and what it means to belong so they are in a frantic, desperate search for something which will stop the itch which they feel but cannot scratch because they have never really learned what it means to be in fellowship with Christ and Christian believers. So many have no clue what it means to belong and they are lost!
You must start inviting people to come to church with you and staying close to them and being sure that our community is loving and caring for the people of the world who are truly hurting and getting very confused today, and are in desperate need to belong somewhere.
Only in regular contact with ordinary, imperfect believers in the church, can we learn real fellowship and experience the New Testament truth of being connected to one another like various parts of one body. The Bible says: "In Christ, we, who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Here there is a caring spirit. A loving spirit with high standards. The church is the body of Christ, not a building. It is an organism, not an organization. It is a community not a structure.
This view of the church requires us to raise the question as to how we are cultivating and encouraging today our church as a healthy community.
#1. We must as individuals resolve to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves." The church has to be a place where you find love made real, the kind of love which the Apostle describes when he writes: "Love is patient and kind, it is not jealous or boastful. It does not insist on its own way." And if the church doesn't produce that kind of fruit, then it will be like a vine which doesn't produce grapes. It will die and it will ultimately be cut down and destroyed.
The Psalmist wrote: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity."
One of the songs we sometimes sing is, "They will know we are Christians by our Love, by our Love, Yes they will know that we are Christians by our Love."
#2. For this to happen, we must set aside judgementalness and when you have something against another person you have got to handle conflict in the Jesus way which means go to them one on one and share what's eating at you. If that doesn't work, carry a Christian friend to help. If that doesn't work bring it to the attention of the church. Do not confess the sins of your neighbor to everyone else, but your neighbor. We must be able to correct one another when we are wrong without stoning one another. Gossip and criticism must be anathema.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a provocative, and still much quoted, 19th Century German philosopher. He was a severe critic of religion, especially the Christian religion. He once suggested, "The last Christian died on the cross." And, concerning Christian evangelism, he said: "If the church wants the world to believe in redemption, then the church ought to look a little more redeemed."
Let the world know us by our love, not our criticism. Let them know us by our gentleness not our judgementalness.
#3. We please God as we together Become a thankful people. D. Bonhoeffer wrote in his book "Life Together": "Thankfulness works in the Christian community as it usually does in the Christian life. Only those who give thanks for little things receive the great things as well. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts prepared for us because we do not give thanks for daily gifts." Let us show our gratitude for others and for the church by voicing it.
#4. Let us live together in such a way that God will be pleased, not embarrassed.
There are problems in the institutional church, because the church is human and it is really embarrassing when members or priests or ministers do not live up to Biblical values. These individuals are an exception and frankly an embarrassing exception.
Someone asked me what was expected of a church member and I said, "We expect members to live like Christ and not embarrass us." The church is the Body of Christ and we are individual members of it!
Created To Become Like Christ
Ephesians 4:22-51
The creator of the Bible is the creator of all things – God. But the authors of the various books are creative and individuals. The Apostle Paul was one of the wonderful writers. He gives such insightful advice.
He would have been a marvelous pastor or spiritual director or friend. His advice is helpful. His carefully chosen words are immortal. Listen again to some that were written 2000 years ago and feel how fresh they are today:
If I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I have nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends.
So, faith, hope, love abide, these three.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
If God is for us, who can be against us? In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us.
Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
I have learned in whatever state I am in, to be content.
My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Do not be weary in well doing.
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Wives be obedient to your husbands. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and died for the Church.
The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.
This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Be imitators of Christ. You were created to become like Christ.
Now here Paul penetrates a great mystery. We, you and I, were created to become like Christ. The writer of Genesis stated in the beginning of human history: "Then God said, Let us make human beings in our image and likeness." One wonders, "Who is God talking to? Perhaps he is talking to his creative self (the Father of all things) or He is talking to his spirit self (the Holy Spirit) or his historical self (Jesus). Or, maybe all three. What we know for sure is that the historical church has taught that To Become In The Image Of God, means that we will look like Jesus." People will often say "Like father, like son" to refer to family resemblance. So also for the disciples of Jesus Christ, we will bear a family resemblance. Like Jesus, like his disciples.
Our church has four persons who will soon be in Seminary: Sean Rezek, Donna Banks, Brennan Peacock and soon Nicole Christopher at one of four seminaries of her choice. After four years of college and then three years of seminary and two years of service in an appointment, a person who is ordained to be an elder in the United Methodist Church is asked a series of historical questions concerning their commitment. These questions came from the early beginnings of our Methodist Movement now almost 300 years ago.
One question is "Are you going on to perfection?" and another is "Do you expect to be made perfect in Christ in this life"?
To be made perfect in this lifetime is not to be better than Jesus, but it is to be like Jesus. Such a commitment reflects a positive response to Jesus' statement to his disciples: "You must be perfect as our father in heaven is perfect." And it further reflects the Apostle Paul's admonition: "Be imitators of Christ".
Such an achievement has been referred to by the church as sanctification. Becoming Like Christ. In Wesley's hymn Love Divine all Loves Excelling he has a verse, which reads: Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be. Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee.
To be like Christ, means that in some creative fashion, we will give visible evidence of his "Beatitudes" in humility, gentleness, peace making, in hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This further means that we will show evidence of the "fruits of the spirit"-- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Get the picture? Better yet, are you in the picture?
The author of the book "The Purpose Driven Life" says that "Becoming Christ like" is the third purpose of every Christian:
1. Planned to Please God
2. Formed for God's family
3. Created to be like Christ." This is in tune with scripture".
We are told in Ephesians 4:22 how this miracle of sanctification can happen: "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life…and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God."
1. First of all, putting off the old way of living.
2. Secondly, by letting the Spirit change our way of thinking.
3. Thirdly, by "putting on" the character of Christ through new, godly habits.
1. By putting off the old way of living. Sometimes we need to just take off old habits like we take off an old coat. Habits like lying or cheating, ugly, cursing words or putting people down. We need to take off and let go of unfounded fears and crippling feelings of inferiority. Feelings and sometimes actions which made us miserable when we realized what we had done, we need to let them go.
I have had to take out the trash at my home for years because Jane says it's good for my spiritual development. And she is right. It is good at least once a week if not more to empty the trash. Maybe that is what Church can do for some of you. For some it is an opportunity to say "Thank You" to God for his abundant blessings. For others it is a time to pray prayers of intercession on behalf of others. And for still others, it is a time to unload the trash.
Leave it here-leave selfishness, anger, rage, possessiveness, leave your lies and your pretensions, and everything else that felt so bad when you did it. Leave your regrets and your fears. Leave it at the altar of God. Leave him your trash and stop hauling it around with you. Occasionally, I see around town a bag lady hauling around trash. Sometimes I see you doing that.
Have you seen the TV program Extreme Makeover? Have you been on the TV show Extreme Makeover? Some of you are looking mighty good. Some things just ought not to be shown to the general public. But what Christ offers is an "Extreme Makeover."
In the Florida State prison I visited him. He was young, but he was aging fast. He was living with his regret of the past. It was in his face everyday and would be in his face for the next 20 years. But in some ways I think it will be in his face forever. One night of craziness. One night of tragedy. One night of the unexpected. One night-forever.
There is a store in town called New Beginnings. It is a place where you can donate your old clothes and things and they can get a new beginning and so can you. When you stop hauling around all of your trash.
Paul said: "Everything old has passed away and everything has become new! If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!"
Take it off. Put off the old. Let go of it.
2. Secondly, when you have tried and cannot manage life on your own, the Holy Spirit has to change your way of thinking about things. By the action of God the Holy Spirit you can be transformed. God can do that for you and in you. Some churches talk about the work of sanctification being a second work of grace. The first being our salvation. Jesus saves you, you don't save yourself. And, God the Holy Spirit changes your way of thinking about things.
I walked in on a situation the other day and overheard someone say to someone else "You've got an attitude." I know some people who have an "attitude." Some of you might have an attitude. And what you need is a different attitude. You are not hurting anybody but yourself.
The Holy Spirit can change your way of thinking. If you don't feel you have to fight your way through life, but that you are equipped to please God and serve him, things will start going different for you.
Let the Holy Spirit change your way of thinking. Let the Holy Spirit give you a new attitude.
3. First, put off the old way of living, Secondly, Let the Spirit give you a new attitude and thirdly, the Apostle says: "Put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God." Eugene Peterson translates this passage of scripture: "Take on an entirely new way of life-a God fashioned life."
This idea of "putting on" a new way of life would be a theme that Paul would return to this clothing image of "Taking off" and "putting on" again in the 6th chapter of Ephesians where he says: "Put on the whole armor of God. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers…against the spiritual powers of wickedness. Therefore put on the whole armor of God: the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation."
Here is a place called "The Land of Beginning again," for if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, and behold all things have become new."
384 Love Divine
There is a Danish proverb that reads, "What you are is God's gift to you, what you do with yourself is your gift to God."
I. Consider the gifts that God has given to us in such abundance.
We have Life without fear nor guilt when we are in Christ. We are the recipients of God's charity. We have been gifted by fellowship in the Church. Bill Hybles has said of the Church: "No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close." Are we not blessed? Gifted?
II. Consider what you do with yourself as your gift to God.
Please know that God expects us to use the gifts and opportunities, which he provides for us.
Jesus told a story of three individuals who received certain talents. One received 5 talents, one 2 talents, and one 1 talent. "Each according to his ability." Remember this story? It was so unfair. Two of the fellows who received abundantly more than they needed, did very well by doubling their gifts. But one of them returned only with the one talent he had received and Jesus said, "The master will take from him the single talent because he did not use it to multiply as did the others." Here Jesus is saying, "God expects us to use what he gives us." Your gifts are given to you for a purpose and it is not to sit on them. Use it or lose it! The last concluding and foreboding verse of that story reads like this: "And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, there men will weep and gnash their teeth."
You were put on the earth to make a contribution. To add to life not to just take from it. God has blessed you that you might be a blessing. He wants you to pass on what he has given to you. You weren't created just to consume resources: to eat, breathe, and take up space. You are not just consumers. He has designed you to make a difference with your life and to take advantage of the unique opportunities that open before you.
In Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life", the author points out that there are 5 purposes for human beings:
We are Placed here for God's Pleasure (I hope you have pleased God-smiled).
Formed for God's Family (The church needs us and we need the church).
Created to be like Christ (Have the Mind of Christ in your mind).
And, fourthly, we were shaped to be God's Servant.
You were made for a mission.
We are all privileged to have a very clear picture of Jesus painted by the writers of the Gospels. He washed the feet of the disciples. When Peter protested about his washing his feet, Jesus said: "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." He touched the lepers. He fixed breakfast, he helped the children, he protected the woman caught in adultery, and he was a servant and helped with whatever circumstances came before him. Mark recalls that he said to the Disciples: "I am among you as one who serves." "Whoever wants to be great must become a servant."
We have been privileged to have lived with and served beside some of the most wonderful and delightful servants of God.
In another week, we will confirm into the faith the members of our Sixth Grade Confirmation Class. I have met with them individually over the past few weeks, and they are delightful. You have seen them as they have read the Scriptures. I will ask them a series of questions as they stand before the Church. I will ask them to confess Jesus Christ to be their Lord. And I will ask them if they will promise to serve the Lord of the Church. And if they answer positively, they will be received into the church as full and participating members. If not, then we will wait until another day.
To be a member of the church is to commit oneself to be like Jesus a servant of God. To live as a servant of God is to be like Jesus. Let me flesh this out for you.
Servants make themselves available to serve.
Servants pay attention to the needs of those around them.
Servants do what needs to be done, no matter how hard or nasty or challenging, they do what needs to be done. They help those who need help. They finish their tasks, fulfill their responsibilities, keep their promises and complete their commitments. They don't leave a job half done and they don't quit when they get discouraged. They are trustworthy and dependable, regardless of the price they have to pay. But understand. Servants look for ways to make a difference and Servants think more about others than about themselves. Servants are not immune to suffering, but even find success in their suffering for something or someone greater than themselves.
One of the Desert fathers, Theophan the Recluse, writes: "The true sign of spiritual endeavor is suffering. One who proceeds without suffering will bear no fruit."—Their focus is not on themselves, but is on others. I believe that is true humility: not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.
Do you get the picture? Better yet, are you in the picture?
The season of Lent gives us ample opportunity to reflect on leaving behind old habits and ideas and allowing God to give us a new start. Consider with me for a moment the life of the servant of God. Jesus said in John 12:26 "If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him."
You might find it helpful to eliminate from your vocabulary such statements as "One of these days I'm going to…”, or "When the time is right". Consider that if you have ever had on your lips: "The church ought to…” or "Somebody should…” that God has put that thought in your mind for a reason. He had the idea that you might respond to the need before you. And if you are a servant, then you will.
Albert Schweitzer once said: "The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve."
John Wesley once wrote in his Journal: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."
God has called you to ministry or service. Jesus called 12 disciples and sent them out to be ministers. Today we have 2400 ministers appointed to our church in Pensacola.
Martin Luther lived in the 16th Century. He was a teacher of Bible and a priest in the Roman Church. He taught the Priesthood of all Believers. This means two things: We have direct access to God as God's grace is available to all and that we are all a priest for one another…
In the Methodist Museum in London, England, there are a number of interesting artifacts, which capture the essence of our movement. There is a prayer desk and there is an electric shock machine. Here are symbols of the two basic emphasis of our movement: One is that of spiritual growth through spiritual disciplines and secondly is evidence of our desire to be of Christian service for those in great need. God has a ministry for each person in his church and a mission for all of us in the world.
Just imagine what could happen if every member identified with our church got serious about their role as servants. Imagine all the good that could be done. Would you be one of those, at least for a week?
Summary: Remember the old Danish proverb: "What you are is God's gift to you, what you do with yourself is your gift to God."
Prayer: Ever-loving God, thou who came into the world clothed in our garment of flesh and who willingly gave yourself to the cross, clothe us in your own Spirit, enable us to take on your way of thinking, your way of serving, so that persons will recognize you in us and receive your great gift of love. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.