Who will you serve?

FOR ONLY ONE

A simple Gospel message,
In a little church one day,
Touched the heart of one who listened,
As the congregation prayed.

There'd been an invitation,
Inviting all to come,
But kneeling down to pray,
Was only one.


CHORUS
For only one,
He would have suffered,
And given up His life.

For only one,
He'd have borne the shame,
And made the sacrifice.

For God so loved the whole world,
He gave His only Son,
But I believe that He'd have done the same,
For Only One.


Now some may say, "Why bother,
For only one or two?"
But Jesus knows the feeling,
When the only one is you.

So if you hear Him calling,
Don't be ashamed to come,
Even if you're the only one.

CHORUS

For Only One,
He would have died for only one.
You are the One.

CHORUS

Who will You serve?

We will often say, "We will serve the Lord!" How much do we know what that is? Are we willing to do anything? Many of us say that we would die for Jesus, but are we willing to live for Him? More often than what we call earth-shattering displays of loyalty and sacrifice for our Liege, he calls us to serve. To be like Him.

I've Come To Serve

The disciples were assembled,
In the upper room.
They didn't know that Jesus,
would be leaving very soon.

They talked about His kingdom,
as they readied for the feast,
Who would be the greatest,
And who would be the least.

One said if there's a greatest,
I hope I'm the one.
Others talked of miracles,
They had seen and done.

No one noticed Jesus,
As He rose up from His seat.
Till knelt before them,
and began to wash their feet.


CHORUS
I've come to serve you.
I've come to serve you.

And if you know my Father's love,
The way you say you do.
Then you will serve each other too.


I wish I could have been there,
To see the look each man's face.
A single act of service,
puts us all back in our place.

But though we're called to minister,
And do miracles in His name,
Remember when you're sent by Him,
The reason that He came.

Chorus
Chorus

Yes you should serve each other too.

Yes you should serve each other too.

Yes, you should serve each other too.

At church we have a rather unique youth who has many talents, and his actionsare often altogether intriguing. He does have one characteristic though, that is somewhat less than endearing to his many friends. You see, when he *ahem* sits upon the porcelin throne, such a stench is released that even he cannot stand to be near the room.

On one certain day, several of us in the youth church had gone out to eat at a local restaurant, and he had eaten a rather large meal, and it was looking for a way out. So, being himself, he went into the youth restroom and *ahem* sat upon the throne.

What he did not know was that in about 15 minutes, we were going to clean the youth building from top to bottom, and that means every room.

Including the restroom.

Suffice it to say, when he opened the door, we scattered. Several of us had been talking near the hallway which leads to the restroom, and we instantly decided to leave that area for sweeter smelling places. However, the restroom still had to be cleaned. In the end, our Youth Pastor decided to (later in the day) clean the room himself, and most of us were overjoyed.

The sad thing was that none of us volunteered to clean that room. I would have been by the church again in an hour or so, and I could have told him not to worry about it, just leave the cleaning supplies by the door, and I could get to it later, but I didn't. Neither did any of the other youth with us.

That's just a comical example of how we often are not willing to serve as we should.

I've often said here that we don't love like we need to. If we were to Love, to truly Love, our instinct would be to immediately do what needs to be done. To care more about people than ourselves. To care about people more than even our Reputation. Jesus hung out with the prostitutes and thieves. To the Priests and Pastors Jesus' reputation was not very good. For the most part, Only to those who were of no use to those in power respected Jesus. Do you still want to be like Jesus?

Do you still want to say, "What Would Jesus Do?"

If Jesus came today, instead of 2,000 years ago, you would see him not in a church, but on the side of the road, laughing and talking with the prositutes. He would be in the middle of a Gang War healing the wounded and loving the lost. He would be Love.

Do you still want to be Like Jesus?

Do I still want to be the Face of Jesus to this world?

I love you Lord,
And I lift my voice,
To worship You, oh my soul rejoice.

Take joy my King,
In what you hear,
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

Do we want to Love?

We could not only lose our lives, but would would almost assuredly lose our reputation. There is a scripture that speaks about life, but it applies here too.

"Then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" Luke 9:23-25

I believe that the same applies to anything and everyting we lose for Jesus. It seems that Jesus was setting a principle in motion that far transends what we understand. For whoever wants to save his reputation will lose it, but whoever loses his reputation for me will save it.

When we finally get to heaven, do we want our Jesus to look at us and tell us that we were so concerned with our reputation here that we missed the countless opportunities that were set before us?

If we follow Jesus like we ought to many (if not all) of our friends will not understand why we do what we do. They may even ignore us or desert us, but we will have done what our Liege-Lord commanded of us.

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
-Rosalynn Carter

Let's make it Real. Real beyond real. Let us be a ray of heaven in this land, a Light unto the world. In darkness there is fear, and the more complete the darkness is, the greater it's strength. But in it's strength is it's greatest weakness. For the light of a single candle can hold all of darkness at bay. As for all the darkness in the world, it cannot put out the light of a single candle.

"So Does one take a light and hide it? Does one be a Light and then cover oneself in darkness? NO! "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

How do we shine before Men, so that they may see us and praise our Father in Heaven? Well, first off, to been seen, we have to be where people can see us. When you are in church, don't just sit in the back row and slip out as soon as service is over. When you start to worship, don't just stand there by your seat. SHINE before men! If you are in a church that wants to grow, start by growing yourself! Go in front of them and Lead them in worship.

Stand at the alter, do whatever it takes. So what if people think that you are trying to draw attention. You Are drawing attention, but to Jesus. Yes, you are drawing attention away from the music, from the preaching, from all of that, but if you truly are only trying to "Let your Light shine," you are drawing the attention to Jesus!

But first we must be striving for two things.

First we need to do everything in our power to be able to say what Paul said, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." -1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow Me, as I follow Christ. That is not something that we are often told to say, but Paul says to imitate (Follow) him as he follows Jesus, and he says to follow (imitate) himself. So in following him, we are supposed to be able to say to others, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

How do we do that? By striving for the second thing! That is Love.

Jesus has many things to say about Love. One of them is this: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"-Matthew 22:37-39, and another is this: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."-Luke 6:27-28

In 2 Peter 1:3-11 the Bible shows the exact steps we need to take to get to Love.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

2 Peter 1:3-11

To me, this seems to be the core of what we are to do. Jesus said that the two most important things are Love. Loving God and Loving your neighbors. Peter says how to Love.

The next few posts here will attempt to define what 2 Peter 1:3-11 means. Consider this post... The Prelude. Consider these lessons... The Prelude to Love, The Journey of Faith.
-David Shore