We all know the priority of service. But how is it possible to serve when you are suffering? That is is an important question because all of us suffer hardship. Christ Himself acknowledged that fact — “In the world you have tribulation…” (John 16:33). And this has been our very own experience. We have various […]
Read More Service and SufferingIn the last few years I have observed an increasing number of businesses training their employees to respond to requests for help from patrons with the phrase, “It’s my pleasure.” These businesses want their customers to feel like they are not an imposition but a joy. That kind of attitude is implied in the care […]
Read More Made to serve“Cultivating Ministry” Ephesians 4:11-12 January 17, 2016 We live in an entertainment culture. We go to the gym to exercise, step on a treadmill and have a TV screen facing us to watch. But most don’t watch – they have their own private entertainment in their own headphones. Or perhaps you prefer an aerobics class […]
Read More Sermon: Cultivating MinistryWednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is from The Godly Man’s Picture. God’s service is the best service. There are six privileges in God’s service: (i) Freedom. Though the saints are bound to God’s service, yet they serve him freely. God’s Spirit, who […]
Read More God’s service is the best service“Caring for One Another: A Life of Service” (Part 2) Romans 1:11-15 August 2, 2015 A number of years ago, London resident Simon Thompson was trying to push his stalled BMW off a road in a London suburb when another driver called out, “Do you want a hand?” And then the car’s back doors flew […]
Read More Sermon: A Life of Service (Pt. 2)“Caring for One Another: A Life of Service” (Part 1) Romans 1:11-15 July 19, 2015 It’s hard to be a servant. To serve others is to do something that is contrary to our natural inclinations and to fight against the flesh. That’s why we just read the story of Epaphroditus. We don’t know much about […]
Read More Sermon: A Life of ServiceEvery day we influence others in one of two directions: (1) toward faith in Christ and eternal glory, or (2) toward rejection of Christ and eternal judgment. ‘It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with […]
Read More Influencing othersWednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. A godly man is a servant of God. ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven’ (Ezra 5:11); ‘Epaphras, a servant of Christ’ (Col. 4:12). Question: In what sense […]
Read More A godly man is a servant of GodJesus is the greatest of all men. He is greatest not because He is like every other man, but better. He is greatest because as a man, He is incomparable. He is the God-Man (both fully God and fully man), and that separates Him from every other person in the category of men. There is […]
Read More Christ, the ServantA few things spotted on the web that have caught my interest of late: I’ve been thinking more about the relationship between social justice and evangelism lately. Here is a brief video interview with John Piper on the topic. The Gospel Coalition has several brief articles on the same topic of social justice and evangelism […]
Read More Grab bagJ. Oswald Sanders, “The Revolutionary Leadership of Jesus:” The fundamental lessons that greatness comes only by way of servanthood, and that first place in leadership is gained only by becoming everybody’s slave, must have come as a great and unwelcome shock [to the disciples]. It is noteworthy that only once did Jesus say that He […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Servanthood (Sanders)John MacArthur, The Book on Leadership: A true leader is someone who demonstrates to everyone around him that their interests are what most occupy his heart. A real leader will work hard to make everyone around him successful. His passion is to help make the people under his leadership flourish. That is why a true […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Leadership (MacArthur)George Whitfield, quoted in Christians You Should Know: [In a response to some criticism:] Let my name be forgotten, let me be trodden under the feet of all men, if Jesus may thereby be glorified.…Let us look above names and parties; let Jesus be our all in all.…I care not who is uppermost. I know […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Servanthood (Whitfield)
Words of Grace 