Serve - I

Look to Serve

MEMORY VERSE

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mathew 20: 26b-28 NLT)

REFLECTION

If we are to be like Jesus then we have to serve the way he served.  And how did He serve? He gave his all. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant (Phil.2).  He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

I became a follower of Christ during my first year in the university. Early in my discipleship years at the student movement, my leaders’ readiness-to-serve lifestyle made an indelible impression on me. One of them gave me a word of advice that stuck. “Look to serve,” she said. The Lord used that to help develop in me an attitude of looking for opportunities to serve, though I still struggle with a “me-first” default stance.

What are some of the reasons why we don’t serve? Do any of these ‘valid excuses’ sound familiar?:

* too busy- I have too much on my plate already.

* too tired- No more energy.

* too late- I missed the opportunity.

* too hard- Can’t do it. It’s beyond me.

I always need to be reminded to fix my eyes on Jesus, our perfect model of how it is to serve others.  Jesus could opt not to but he chose to. He focused on pleasing the Father and doing His will. If we are to lead like Jesus led then we are to serve as Jesus served.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What are your ‘valid excuses’ not to help meet the needs of others? How valid are they?
• The Lord may be bringing to your attention needs of others around you that you could help meet. What are those needs?
• What would it take for you to help meet those needs? Would you be willing to act on it?

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK

Look to serve. Ask God to open your eyes to an opportunity to serve this week.  Pray that you don’t miss it. With humility and joy, serve like Jesus.     

Our guest blogger this week is Ramon Rocha.  He is with CCT and recently moved from the Philippines to Chicago. He is helping coordinate the Ka-Partner Network.

Evangelize - III

True Followers Fish

MEMORY VERSE

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

REFLECTION
Evangelizing is a task that our Redeemer Jesus Christ has committed to us. So why don’t we do it?  In Matthew 4:19 Jesus gives us the secret for doing it. Our ability to evangelize is simply tied to our following Him. When we follow Jesus and obey His commands, He makes us fishers of men. If you are not truly fishing (evangelizing), then you must ask yourself whether indeed you are following Christ.  For those of us who are indeed following, our task is crystal clear -- reach the lost and perishing around us with the good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. This we do by verbalizing the gospel, by telling others our conversion story and the transformation in our lives that followed, by our conduct, speech and lifestyle. Hence evangelism is a process, not just an event. It involves our total being, not just occasional efforts of hitting those who are yet to put their trust in Christ with the gospel.  It involves prayerfully reaching them continually with the gospel and living out the Christian life for them to see the difference until they come to acknowledge Christ as their Savior.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• Are you following Christ?  If so, who have you “fished for” in the past week? month? year?
•  Who will you plan to speak to about Christ this week?
•  Is there anything in your conduct, speech or lifestyle that might make onlookers doubt that you are a follower of Christ?

If you are not yet a follower of Christ, you can become one today.  If you don’t know how, click here and to discover the adventure of following Christ!

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK

• Seek out opportunities to share your Christian testimony with someone this week.
•  Make a list of some of your non-Christian friends and conscientiously pray for them. When you sense it is God’s timing, share with them the best news that they will ever hear.

Our guest blogger is Azaki Nash who lives in Abuja, Nigeria. He is a great source of encouragement to PEER Servants and Rescue Fellowship/GSED.

Evangelize - II

If necessary use words???

VERSE

But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? Romans 10: 14 The Message 

REFLECTION

How does the quote go? "Witness for Christ each day, and if necessary use words." Where I used to work, people saw a change in me when I renewed my commitment to Jesus. They saw me gain patience and become more compassionate. They would say, "He's the nicest guy here." The boss gave me some of the more difficult clients and my coworkers saw how I would calm them and deal with them peacefully. And then I got involved with efforts to provide for the materially poor.  My coworkers would tell me I'm a special person for what I was doing and they might try to help to a limited extent.  I was troubled by all of this because I got the glory, not God. I never stopped to tell them where this change in me came from. Yes, it's awful to live a life that is contrary to the message we speak. But we can't let the pendulum swing too far in the other direction. How will they know they can have a new, exciting, wonderful life if someone doesn't tell them?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What do you rely on more, your actions or your words to communicate the patience, joy and peace you received from God?
• Who do you need to talk to in order to set the record straight that God is your transformer? 

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK

• Ask God to show you who is watching and longing to be transformed as you have been . Pray that God will give you the words, and speak to that person this week.