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Ephesians 6:5-9 -The Lords Servant- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-05-24
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We're gonna read God's holy word together. Ephesians six five through nine. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free. And you masters, do the same things unto them for bearing threatening knowing that your your master also is in heaven, neither is the respect of persons with him. Father, we thank you for your holy word, we thank you for the book of Ephesians, all that we've learned. And today, as we look at the relationship of, servants and masters, our jobs, our occupations with those that are in authority over us, and those of us that are serving, Lord. Lord, we thank you that we serve you, that you're our boss, that you're our master. And Lord, whatsoever we do, we do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto man. And so we wanna go the extra mile. We wanna go beyond what the norm is and and be a light, be a blessing, in our community, in our jobs, as we work. We spend so much time working, Lord. And so Lord, we just pray that you'd be glorified in what you've called us to do, and you equip us this morning and help us to understand the roles and, the responsibilities and the emphasis upon being being filled with the Holy Spirit to fulfill what you've called us to do, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Who will be the greatest? The greatest ever? The goat, you know, greatest of all time. Big debate even today. But the disciples in Matthew chapter 20, Salome, who is the mother of Zechariah's sons, and James and John, the cousins of Jesus, the sons of thunder. Salome came up to to Jesus quietly, and she said, hey, when you get into your kingdom, would you put one of my sons on your left hand and the other one on your right hand? And Jesus' response was, you know, are they able to drink of the cup that I'm gonna drink? And they don't have a clue what he's talking about, the cup of the cross, the cup of suffering, the cup of God's wrath being poured out upon him, that cup that he prayed in the Garden Of Gethsemane that if it were possible, God, that you'd remove from me. And they're like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can do that. And, Jesus then goes over to the father and lets him know that it's not for me to determine who's gonna sit on the left hand or on the right hand, in my coming kingdom, but the father has appointed those that are gonna sit on my left and my right hand. Then the other disciples became real angry because, you know, Salome and the boys got ahead of them. They were thinking the same thing. They're always fighting over who is gonna be the greatest, you know, in the kingdom. And not like we ever do that, you know. We don't we don't we don't worry about that. Right? And so Matthew 20 verse 25, Jesus said, you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. We used to call our politician public servants. You know, they were we have a constitutional republic, they're chained to the constitution, and they were to have the mentality of being public servants, not so anymore. They're public tyrants now. Even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. And so Jesus, left the free exercise of his deity, seated at the right hand of the father, and took on the form of a man. He humbled himself as a man, taking on the form of man in Philippians two. And humbled himself even to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So, a very noble form of capital punishment that Jesus subjected himself to, humbled himself there unto. And, what an example of humility. And so he didn't come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and the word minister is servant, and, to give his life a ransom to his blood be shed and, as a price, for our redemption. And so today, we look at God's instructions to servants and to masters, continuing our study of headship, mutual submission, and being filled with the holy spirit. And so the Roman empire had about a 120,000,000 people in the empire, 60,000,000 of which, at least half, were slaves. And it's interesting that here in the Bible, Paul's not instructing the slaves, you know, the masters to set their slaves free. You know, you guys are Christians, just set your slaves free. You would think that. Right? No. He's gonna exhort the slaves to work as under the Lord, to, you know, he talks in the church of Corinth that if you can get your freedom, great. The centurion at the Antonio Fortress, when they grabbed hold of Paul, when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and it wasn't legal to strike a Roman citizen, to flog a Roman citizen, he said, with a great price, I purchased this freedom of citizenship. And Paul says, why was free born? Paul, as a as a child, his parents were able to Jewish parents were able to afford him Roman citizenship was which was came with a huge privileges, many many privileges. So to not be a citizen, a Roman citizen meant that you were a slave, and you were subjected under your master. And your master, William Barclay said that if if if a slave owner wanted to, he could be angry, and there was accounts of this, he could be angry and just take you and throw you into a pond of piranha if he wants just for his enjoyment. You would have a wife and children, and and he'd own all of them. And if you angered him or if he got tired of you or whatever, he could just sell all of you. He could sell the husband, sell the wife, sell the kids, separate them out. They had no rights. They're just like a possession like cattle. And what's interesting is as I'm studying for this, one of the guys talked about how, you know, historically, you know, how this used to be. But that's an ignorant statement because there's great greater slavery today among the Arab nations, Islamic nations that are constantly making slaves of people, and and also the human trafficking here in America and all over the world. Just have a Super Bowl. Go to the Super Bowl or look at the hotels all around the Super Bowl, and you'll see that all law enforcement is standing down because there are boys and girls servicing all the people that come in from all over the world in sex trafficking. And you know the Epstein files, you know the the elites, those in control, their appetite for children, their appetite for sexually trafficked, and not just beyond sex trafficking, sacrifices and all sorts of heinous, hideous kind of things that go on. And all over Europe, The UK, all over the world, slavery persists. And Jesus came to set the captives free. And praise the Lord that we have enjoyed freedom in this country. Although if you aren't careful, your wife, your son, your daughter, maybe even a husband, I don't know, they could be abducted in a shopping center, brought into a van, and you never see them again, and they go into the the sphere of sex trafficking all over America. It's happening all over. And and how horrific that is. And so in the Roman empire, it was 60,000,000 of them were slaves and and how are the criteria here is what happens to you if you're a slave? What happens if you're a master and then you get saved? What's the behavior to be of a believing master and a believing servant? How is that how is that relationship? And that's what Paul's dealing with here. And so, how is the servant to serve? Number one, with humility. Notice verse five. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and with trembling. I believe fear, the fear of the Lord is what's lacking in the church today. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. What's the word fear mean? Perfect love casts out fear? It means respect. There's a lack of respect for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We act like we're in charge. We act like we don't need to respect God or respect his word, that we can do it our way. And that's the whole Frank Sinatra existential humanistic philosophy of the book of Judges. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And as a pastor, as a Christian, we try to correct, we try to instruct, we try to show people the biblical mandate to live according to God's word, to be in submission to our heavenly father, be in submission to our master, and people don't like that idea. They look at God as a as one that's supposed to make them happy, supposed to bless them, supposed to rub him a certain way and he'd just give you whatever you want. But the servants, they're to have a healthy fear, and Paul even says the point of trembling, you know. That's the kind of respect you as a servant, the humility. And I believe again, this is greatly greatly missing in our culture. And case in point, if you look at the church of Laodicea, they kicked Jesus out of the church. The audacity of the church in the last days here, the apostate church, to actually kick Jesus out. To say to Jesus, hey, we're rich and increased with goods and need of nothing, man. We don't need you anymore. We've got our programs. We've got our purpose driven churches, you know. And then a generation later, twenty five years later, the kids don't want their parents' church, the purpose driven church. It's empty. It's insipid. It's powerless. They want authenticity. They want real Christianity. And yet they're confused. I read an article this week, and they're going into a ritualistic attempt at Catholicism. There's a trend toward people leaving Protestantism and going into Catholicism because of the ritual. They want to experience something. They're not experiencing Jesus in our Protestant churches since we rebranded and, you know, left the Lord and left his word and left prophecy and began to do it our way. You know, the emphasis was upon its deeds. We gotta go out there and be like Catholics and do good deeds, feed the poor. It's not creeds, which means doctrine. We don't need to teach doctrine. We don't need to make disciples. We just need to control the way they think and and rebrand them and rethink them that we're gonna do social justice all over the world. And how's that working for us? We, as a church, we certainly we do good deeds, but not at the expense of a prophetic outlook of the soon return of the Lord, not at the expense of discipleship of knowing God's word, and it stems from pride. It all stems from pride that we think we can do a better job and that that that carries over into how we live in our jobs. So whether you work at Bangor or Keepord or the shipyard or across the water at Boeing or whatever, it can affect the way you work. Your attitude at at your job and all. And then the trade unions that are that are there to protect you from your mean bosses and stuff like that, you know. But as Christians, we're to be humble at work. We're to humble ourselves. We're to look beyond our superiors, to go the extra mile, and to do it as unto the Lord. Doesn't matter how many people June the first Sunday of June, June 6, is gonna be 31 that we've been here. And no matter how many people have come and gone at this church, the only way Cathy and I keep moving forward is what we do. We do it as under the Lord, not under men. And that's why I'll tell some of you like, well, you won't be here in a couple years. Oh, yeah. We're never gonna leave. We're never gonna oh, yeah. They all say that. How long you been here? Because I could I could serve some burnt cookies and your feelings get hurt and you leave. Over burnt cookies. Just so thin skin. The tiniest little thing could offend you. And boom, you're gone. That's pride. That's what that is. That's pride. He can't talk to me that way. Doesn't he know who I am? It's pride, and that's what we that that's the fall of Satan, that's the fall of Lucifer, it's a it's it's detrimental to our walking relationship with the Lord, and it'll affect our marriages, affect everything that have pride. And God resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Jesus in Philippians two seventy, made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of his servants and was made in the likeness of men. He took on the form of a man. Hebrews one says, he didn't form himself as an angel, but he made himself a little lower than the angels in the form of a man, in the likeness of man. He's the God man. He's the son of man. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Are you willing to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross? Are you will are you willing to obey the Lord and let him as your master dictate or tell you, hey, Jonah, go down over here and and, tell the Ninevites forty days and they're gonna perish? Would you be like Philip and go down to Gaza, which is desert? Or are you gonna go the opposite direction? God has to use a whale, a big fish for you, Jonah, to get you to be willing to move in a direction that God's instructed you to go. We spend a lot of time in prayer dictating to God, telling God, our master, what we want. And again, it carries over in our relationship with people and those that the Lord's put in authority over us. Now, have to admit, I have to admit, I'm guilty. When I saw King Charles with that clown suit on and that big crown and all that stuff, and telling everybody what they were gonna do, Everyone's gonna have to receive a real ID and, in order to function in the, you know, in The UK, United Kingdom, and I'm looking at him and I'm I and you know, and I'm thinking this pedophile, who's he think he is with this garb, with this get up and all? And I'm thinking, you know, he's a king. And I'm supposed to pray for those in authority over me. And every ounce of rebellion inside of me saying, not for that clown. There ain't no way, man. You know, this guy, what's he wearing? What what's that that's so outdated. What does he think he is, you know? And and then you think in terms of, he he's a representative, you know. And he represents, you know, he's he's the crown. He's God's appointed him. They got the blood, know, they go into this whole big thing. And and you and I, thank God we have a constitutional republic. That our politicians, there is no king. And even the president has limited powers. Right? And he has different branches of government, checks and balances. Right? Because we didn't want a king. We didn't someone a tyrant that could take away our religious freedom. And we're watching our our fourth amendment right of privacy be taken away. In the name of, if you don't have anything to hide, what are you worried of? You know? Because we're gonna have data centers all over the world, you know? And people are need to wake up, you know, because that doesn't mean that's rebellion. That doesn't mean you have to be in submission because you and I are in submission to the constitution, which is the law of the land. But we don't understand a constitution republic, the rule of law. We can pray for our president, pray for those elected officials and all, but every now and then we need to remind them they're public servants. Right? They're they're to serve the public. And we, when we get pulled over by a police officer or or work or whatever, we definitely are to be humble. We're to respect the badge. We're to respect the authority, the job that they have. And but not not just blindly, like, you know, where we have to give in know, we have rights. We have constitutional rights that protect us from any kind of tyranny that would come through. And so it may be difficult for us to understand this humility that's needed in the workplace especially. Jesus is a good example for us. In John 13, as they're getting ready for the last Passover, and Judas is getting ready to betray Jesus for 30, the disciples again were fighting over who's gonna be the greatest, who's the most important. So when they come to the house where they're to partake of the last, you know, supper, and Michelangelo's getting ready to paint the picture and all, and when they're there in the in the place, the lowliest servant of the household, their job was to wash the feet of those coming in off of the dirty roads. So you would start your day out maybe taking a full bath, you know, head to toe, and you put your sandals on, and now you're walking to where you're gonna go, and your feet become filthy. So when you'd come into somebody's house, especially at the last Passover in a in a communal meal, and when they when they dine, they're gonna dine laying down on like an oriental kind of a rug. Right? They down dine down on the ground, and their feet are nearby, and then they got little pillows or whatever, and John the beloved's putting his head on the breast of Jesus, just laying that close to him and all. And Judas is getting ready to betray him, and nobody knows who the son of perdition is. Nobody knows. Out of the 12, they don't even know that he's a Judas, you know, at this point. And, but they're still fighting over who's gonna be the greatest, and so Jesus, none of them are willing, so Jesus takes his outer garment, brings it up to his belt, sash, and pulls it tight, the role of a servant. And then he takes and he gets a basin of water, and he gets a towel, and he begins to wash the disciples' feet. And he's given them a lesson. The greatest among you be the servant of all. If me, if I, your lord and master, am willing to humble myself and serve you, you guys are to serve one another. You're to love one another. Your brethren, your brothers, you know. He's trying to get it through to him instead of always looking at a pecking order, and who's gonna be the greatest, vying for, you know, I wanna be the top dog, I'm the alpha dog, don't you know who I am, you know, and all this jockeying for position and all. And so again, a chain of command, headship and all. So the greatest among us with his example is that of a servant. He gets over to Peter and Peter says, you're not gonna wash my feet? And Jesus said, if you don't let me wash you, you have no part with me. And Peter says, well, not just my feet, but my whole body. Give me a whole big washing. No, I want a bath. Give me a bath. And there's a play on two Greek words, nipto and luo. And Jesus said, no, he that is washed, you've been washed in the blood of the lamb, you're saved. But as you walk through this life, you get defiled. And that defilement, that filth, that stench, that stuff that sticks to our feet, you you know, you stepped in something outside, that affects the fellowship. And so in order to restore fellowship, if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sin, and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. So that's the picture of the washing of the feet. Jesus said, if you if if I don't wash you, you got no part with me. There's no fellowship, dude. Well, not the whole thing. Do the whole thing. No. You've already been washed, Peter. You don't need to go to mass and get saved every week. You've already been saved. Okay? But we sin, so you go to first John. If we say we have no sin, we're a liar and the truth isn't in us. Right? And so, but the blood of Jesus Christ God's son continually cleansed the man of all sin. So if you confess, which means agree with the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit washes away that defilement, fellowship's restored. Now we got fellowship. Fellowship restored. And that's the blessing to partake in the communion at the end here, because if there's anything in our heart, anything the Lord is wanting to deal with us, you could try to cover your sin like David did, and you could spend a time in the desert spiritually, drying up in Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51. Drying up spiritually. You didn't lose your salvation, but drying up because you're out of fellowship with God because you're not dealing with sin in your life for the sake of fellowship. And once you confess, and you can study how David confessed in Psalm thirty two thirty eight and fifty one, these are penitent penitental psalms where he's coming out of it and the holy spirit didn't edit it out. The holy spirit put it there so you and I could learn. And so that we could cry out, you know, create and you know, restore unto me the joy of my salvation, you know, things like that. And create me a clean heart, oh God. And David's crying out because he's he's been out of fellowship with God and he's drying up like a pot shirt on the inside. And God doesn't want that. God doesn't want you and I to be estranged and it's only pride that's gonna get in our way. And so we humble ourselves, and we could lose our job for being prideful. Pride helps us to miss a lot of open doors and opportunities that God might wanna present our way, But it requires humility, it requires respect, it requires, you know, playing by the rules, and pride closes doors. And so, how is the servant to serve? Number one, with humility. Secondly, wholeheartedly. Not halfheartedly, not winging it. How many of you know people that hide in the bathroom at the shipyard so they don't have to work? They have six hour bathroom breaks. I hear the stories. People have their places they hide. Places they go and hide. And it was probably worse a long time ago, but people have stories, all sorts of stories of ways. I had a friend that worked for McDonnell Douglas in the day, and he'd go there to the to the place and he'd hide in a closet and try to sleep the whole day, you know. Just get out of work. People I mean, he wasn't a Christian, and he's he's been very successful since then. But, man, what a long day that is if you're not working. I'd rather work and get that day over with, you know. It goes quicker. But, I half hearted. And a Christian, a person that proclaims to be a Christian, needs to be the best worker on the shift. The very best worker there is there. That's your witness. You don't wanna be whining and complaining. You're not working for that boss. You're working for Jesus. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the lord and unto men. I'm I'm speaking in tongues here. I'm slurring my words. Because you serve the Lord Christ. In Ecclesiastes nine, it says, whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. It's worth doing with your whole heart. Put your whole heart into it. And yesterday, Britney and I were trying to put together a table support, and, she made the mistake of asking me to help her. And so we went down to the metal shed, and I had a vice, and and man, we're hammering. I'm thinking I'm a it's an anvil. I'm thinking I'm a blacksmith or something. I'm going for it. And she's just like, this isn't a very good idea to have my dad do it. And but I was putting my whole heart into it and I put it in that vice and I bent it up and I scraped the black paint off of it, and I was having a hard time. And then I got my cutter out, and I cut the end off of it and everything, and and it was ugly looking. Then I took some black paint, and I painted over it, and she's just like standing there. Then we went over to the her RV to install it, and and man, I'm putting my whole heart into this. And so we start to put the screws in on the base, and and apparently, was a a piece of metal beneath the wood, and and I got the first one in. And we're getting to that second one and she's like, dad dad, it's it's smoking. Dad, it's smoking. And it's smelling like burnt metal, you know, like when I when I cut it. I got this. I got this. And she's pleading with me to stop, you know. But once you get me going, I'm OCD, man. I'm just I got obsessive compulsive disorder. Just get me going. And we're gonna do it, you know. Just put my whole heart into it. And that's the way I've been my whole life. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing with your whole heart. You you whether it's whatever it is in your life, whether when I first got saved going to church, I'm OCD. Can I use that term? Obsessive compulsive disorder. Is that a disorder? So then your next thing is, I'm gonna start a business. Again, obsessed, night and day. Family, church, Christian, going into the ministry here. You don't you don't you don't look at the clock. You don't care if you've already worked ten hours, I'm going home. You don't go home. You keep working. And that's what we did downtown there for years and years to establish this church. And it was a joy and a blessing. Huge joy and blessing. And I never looked at it like, when do I get to retire? My buddy Eric went to the Philadelphia conference, the Calvary Chapel Association, and what's interesting is the model that I'm thinking in terms of his pastor Chuck in his eighties with oxygen in his nose on a Sunday, still preaching out of Romans four, and going home to be with Jesus on Tuesday. No problem with retirement. Great. Go retire. But as a pastor, the keyword they had there was transition. They're all old enough now, and I'm not even old like them guys, but they're old enough now they wanna transition. They wanna transition out of the pulpit to get a replacement in there. Maybe that's healthy. But again, I I like what I'm doing. If you like what you're doing, if you like serving the Lord, then do it with your whole heart. Why would you do it half heartedly? Why would why would you be a half hearted Christian? I mean, you're serving the king. You're serving Jesus. And he's keeping score. He's keeping track. And he's gonna reward you, not for the results the world's looking at. He's gonna reward you for faithfulness. You were faithful in the season of small things. And here's the key issue. The number one key issue that I'd like to get through to everybody as a Christian, don't ever quit. It can be hard. It can be like working a job that that doesn't seem to be rewarding and where's my part of it or whatever, know. Don't quit. Too many people quit and they look for places where they can just like hide out. Where there isn't that intensity of a OCD pastor. You know? I I don't he's too intense. He's he's talking about stuff that makes me makes me uncomfortable. I I don't wanna hear about that stuff. Well, it's prophecy. Why don't you wanna hear about prophecy? You're gonna learn about prophecy. I'm gonna ram it down your throat. But a lot of people can't handle it. They call it doom and gloom, and then they quit. They quit. And I'm like, oh, if I coulda had you a little longer. If I coulda had you a little longer and been intense with the old testament and the new testament, and got enough of the word of God in you, you you'd you'd have got to the place where you were strong enough to endure the fight, to endure the battles instead of quitting every time it gets hard. Don't quit on Jesus. Give it your whole heart. He wants you to give it your best. That's all he has. Give it your best and commit the rest. He doesn't expect you. He remembers that he fashioned you from the dust of the ground. He knows your frame. He doesn't expect more out of us than we're able to produce or do. And we, the secret is, we know our sufficiency is of Christ. Jesus already told us, without me, you can do nothing. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, so why not put my whole heart into it? Why would I wanna be a half hearted Christian and take it or leave it, laissez faire? You know, like, hey, I haven't read my bible all week, doesn't matter, I'm going to a two hour bible study on Sunday morning, that'll be enough for all week. No, it's not. You know what I'm really excited about? I'm excited as I get to know some of you people that haven't been sifted. You haven't left. I can't get rid of you. And I'm really excited how the depth of your walk with the Lord, the tenacity, the steadfastness, the the men and women of God's word, and you love God's word, and you've got a lot of ailments, you've got a lot of challenges, and you have throughout your whole Christian experience, but you never quit. You never gave up. And you've grown through the difficult season. And that's a matter of the heart. It's the heart. You do it as unto the Lord with your whole heart, and you're gonna grow. And I I I connect with people like that. I connect real easy with people that have a working knowledge of the scripture and a love for God's word and a love for prophecy and a love for the bible. I connect real well. But for people that don't love God's word, that aren't intense, they quit. They wanna go somewhere where it's more convenient and softer and make me be feel therapeutic and feel good and tell me fables, tell me what I wanna hear. I don't connect with people like that. It's hard. It's hard to be a nurse. It's hard to be a nurse to people that say they've been Christians twenty years. I don't wanna have to wipe your mouth. Do it with your whole heart. Be a doer. If you really get broken and and you get hit, we'll be there as nurses and doctors and paramedics and try to prop you and get you going again. But it shouldn't be a way of life. It should be just in the time of crisis, a time where if any man be overtaken in a fault, you were a spiritual restorer, such as one a spirit of meekness, lest we also be tempted. Kathy's one of the gotta be one of the toughest people I've ever met. The strongest, a woman of faith, a woman that never gives up. And here's a trait you need to have, otherwise, you'll be neutralized. Forgetting those things to which you're behind and pressing forth those things that are before. You can be neutralized by fixating on your past, Fixating on the wrongs and the the how bad people were to you in the past. The bad boss you had at the job before or whatever. You'll be neutralized. Forget those things. Move forward. Start fresh every day. Every day is a day to serve the Lord with your whole heart. The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. And and so whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto men. Boy, that helps me a lot because pastor appreciation day only comes once a year around here. And if if you feel like you're unloved or Paul said, the more I love you, the less you love her and return, church of Corinth. Ain't that funny? If you spoil kids, if you spoil people, they have this disrespect toward you. If you ignore them and treat them bad, they're trying everything they can to get you to get your eye, to get you to notice them. Paul says, the more I love you, the less you love me in return. We tend to not appreciate those that lay down their lives for us and all. And and so for the pastor, for the Christian, for the mom, the dad, the grandma, the grandpa, do it as unto the Lord and you'll never be disappointed. You're doing it for Jesus. And so how is the servant to serve? Number one, with humility. Secondly, wholeheartedly. And thirdly, with honor. Verse seven, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Who are you serving? And when you're when you're inclined, as I was just saying before, if you're when you're inclined to feel unappreciated, ask yourself, how is Jesus treated? Was he appreciated? How is Paul treated? How is Peter James John? How are they treated? How are Christians treated in Nigeria? How are they Christian throughout history? Treated throughout history? Treated around the world today? Boy, certain different groups, if if they even get an owie, the whole world comes to their aid. Right? Christians, it's like, they're Christians. They like being martyrs. Yeah. We'll we'll let we'll let these Nigerians come in there and just decimate them with machetes, and I'm I'm looking at it going, arm these people. Give them weapons to defend themselves, you know. Why are they unarmed, these Christians? You know, that's pretty basic. Right? It breaks my heart to watch this martyrdom all over Nigeria. So with goodwill doing service as to the Lord, not unto men. You're the Lord's army. Who you serving? Never quit. Notice verse five, it says, as unto Christ. Notice it says in verse six, the servants of Christ. Notice verse seven, as to the Lord. Do all to the glory of God, in first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31. Do everything to the glory of God. Lord, I I want my life as a poema, as a work of art. I want my life to bring glory and honor unto you, Lord. Everything we do, do it as unto the Lord, to bring glory and honor unto the Lord. If I were to attend some of the churches that I hear about around the world today, around in America, in Kitsap County, I would physically get ill. I would physically throw up when I see the clown show and how dishonoring it is to God. It it would make me sick. That's what Jesus said. This lukewarm church makes me sick. He'd rather you're hot or cold. Be hot for the Lord. Be fervent in love. Be fervent in service. Not half hearted and do it for his honor, for his glory. I was thinking this morning, what if what if we go to heaven and we see Noah there, and we see the great men and women of faith, Deborah. We see Job. We see Abraham and Sarah. Of course Jesus, Peter, James, and John, and all of them. When I go to pastors conference in the past, the question is, how many running? That means how many people you got? Well, Rob counts every week. I don't count. Alright. 50. The next question. How long you been there? Thirty one years. Then this big name mega church pastor gets up there and talks to the pastors, and he says, if you've only got 50 people, you're not even a church. So what is it then? So the criteria, the mean the means of evaluation is a worldly evaluation based upon numbers. But what if when I get to heaven, I find out that only eight people got in the ark? And then Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years. And only eight people out of a billion people got into that ark. Is Noah a failure? And yet Jonah, who is in rebellion to God, had the biggest revival we saw in the Old Testament. All the Ninevites from the king on down repented. 120,000 little babies that couldn't know their right hand from their left hand. What so let me let me ask you this. What if the question when you get to heaven, instead of how many running, what if the question is, what did you suffer for Jesus? Can the church in America even answer that question? What did you suffer for Jesus? To honor him in suffering, to remind people of the cross. A lot of us are gonna be pretty embarrassed, aren't we? And I've noticed a lot of the big name pastors, they're not gonna be able to answer that question because they're pampered chefs. They've been they've been celebrities for too long. And they insulate themselves from any kind of heartache, any kind of I mean, not it doesn't even represent Jesus. Foxes have holes, birds there have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Yeah. I was homeless. I used to camp out. I used to live in my car. These guys got $10,000,000 houses and million dollar salaries. What did you suffer for Jesus? How is that honoring God? Paul said, he had his stigmata. He goes, I got the marks. I got the marks on my body, the scars that I've received from the cat of nine tails, and the things I went through that we don't need words. I'm so tired of words. I'm tired of mouthy people. YouTube everywhere mouthing off, glorifying themselves. Show me. Do something. Do something. And as a servant, you shouldn't be need to be told. You should know your job description. Just do it as under the Lord for his glory. Just Nike, just do it For his honor, for his glory, as a part of his army. Paul Paul talks about a fellow soldier. Being a being a soldier in this memorial weekend. Are you a soldier? Are you a fellow soldier? Are you in a battle? Next week, we're gonna get into chapter six, a little further here with verse 10 with the spiritual battle we're under. The armament. Paul's chained to a Roman soldier. If if you're comfortable as a Christian, if you found that place of neutrality, if you found that place of of, you know, convenience, then the problem is you're not a target of the wicked one. And he's neutralized you and that's why your existence presently is so soft. But when reality strikes, when things begin to unfold in these last days, is your faith gonna prevail? Do you have enough faith to persevere or are you gonna quit? When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Peter, I'm praying for you. Satan desires to sift you as wheat, but I'm praying for you, Peter. I'm praying that your faith fail not. Sifting is, Satan wants to beat you, Peter, but I'm praying for you. And Jesus is praying for you and me that our faith fail not. And when we're converted, when we're restored, because we might wince, we might fall, but we're not gonna quit. We're gonna get back up. We're gonna get back in the fight. He says, then restore others. Help others. Why do we do this? It's all for his glory. You're you're gonna wear a martyr's crown for his glory because you you glorify the Lord in your willingness to die for him. To deny yourself, to take up your cross, to follow him. And you might have a dead end job, a job you hate, a job that's so humiliating. It it just it emasculates you. You don't even feel like a man anymore. Do it as unto the Lord. Do it for his glory, for his honor. Remember, humility opens doors. Pride, door shut. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. I've discovered as we humble ourselves, we're faithful in the small things, we put our whole heart into it, the Lord gives us open doors. Bosses that don't appreciate me in the past, another job presented itself, a much better job, and now I'm moving into that new job. The boss I previously had is, now he's willing to give me a raise. Not too late. Too late. You didn't appreciate what I did. Now I've got somebody that's seems interested in me. The new door's opening. Then you go through another door. But if you're prideful, if you're arrogant and always arguing, man, your employer, you know, you're toxic. Get out of here. When Sally and Cora worked at the Goodwill, you know, the bosses begged them to keep working. They didn't they didn't need to keep working. Begged them to keep working because everyone around them worked better. They're kinda like supervisors on the floor setting the example. They love them. They love their work ethic. And Sally get in her car and go pick them all up, and they all go to work. They love going to work. Glorifying the Lord. What kind of people are they? They're Christians. They're the best workers we've ever found, these Christians. That's what the bosses should be saying. Oh, really? Do they show up on time? Yeah. Show up on time. They they're not smoking the weed. No. They don't smoke the weed. They they don't try to hide and smoke the reefer over in the bathrooms or whatever. No. They don't come to work drunk. They never had to go to rehab. I've never had to send them to rehab. They work. Are are they willing to work, on their day off? Yeah. They'll work on their day off, man. If if somebody fails to show up, you give them a call, they come right on in. How do you explain it? They're Christians. They do it as under the Lord. They're anointed of the Holy Spirit. It's the calling God's placed upon their life and they recognize it, a way to serve the Lord and to to take the abundance of what God provides and to send some back to The Philippines to help their family members. They're glorifying the Lord, to honor Jesus. As unto Christ, the servants of Christ, as to the Lord in verse seven, do all to the glory of God. In Isaiah forty four twenty eight, God describes Cyrus, Persian, as my shepherd. I like that personal pronoun, my. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. But the Lord says of Cyrus, he's a foreign king. He's one of my shepherds. He's gonna shepherd my people Israel. And then I like Abraham. How's he described? My servant Abraham. What an honor to be the Lord's servant. And then you see Moses. My servant Moses, not my king Moses, not my pharaoh Moses, my servant Moses. And one of my favorites right now, my servant Caleb. I love Caleb. 80. I'm 80 and five years old this day. I'm as strong today as I was when I was 40. And I'm gonna take Hebron. I'm gonna knock them giants out of there. I like that tenacity. I like that attitude. He's not retiring. Now, Lord bless you if you wanna retire. That's great. You can serve the Lord more. Right? You got more time to serve the Lord. I'm not I'm not coming against retirement. But I don't know that we ever retire from serving the Lord. There's always new things, new ways to serve the Lord. My servant David, my servant Job. God, that's that's a hard one. Satan's walking about, and God says, where have been going, Satan? Oh, just walking to and fro throughout the earth. Have you considered my servant Job? And if I were Job, I'd be saying, Lord, shh. I like living under the radar, Lord. The eyes of the Lord, they run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of a man or a woman whose heart is perfect toward the Lord. Not half hearted, perfect toward the Lord. It's all yours Lord. Have you considered my servant Job? Oh Job, my servant Job. And then at the end of the book, he still addresses Job as my servant. And Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, they're not described as my servants. They're described as miserable comforters. The armchair quarterbacks that just talk. And Job, he's been through the fire. And the Lord says, he's one of mine. Satan did his best. Satan tried to get him to to quit. Satan tried to get him to blaspheme. And I let Satan after him. I let Job be tested, but Job's come through that fire. He's come through that fire. He knows the way that I take when he's tried me. I'm gonna come forth as gold. Though the Lord slay me, yet will I trust in him. I know that my redeemer lives. All these these triumphant faith, attitude of faith coming through, the crucible, the trials, the difficulty. And he's honoring God by being submissive unto God in a time of great trial, great difficulty. When you're in heaven and they ask you, what did you suffer for Jesus? What were you willing to suffer for Jesus? What are you gonna be able to answer? Isaiah, my servant. Even king Nebbe, my servant Nebbe. Nebuchadnezzar, my servant. And then in Matthew twelve eighteen, Matthew's quoting because Jesus has been ministering to people, healing people and all. And Matthew reaches back to the book of Isaiah, chapter let's see here. Chapter forty two one and two, and it says, behold my servant behold my servant shall deal prudently. And speaking of Jesus, my servant Jesus. Always wanting to glorify his father, serving the father. How is the servant to serve? Number one, with humility, you note takers, with humility. Secondly, wholeheartedly. Thirdly, with honor. Fourthly, with hope. Verse eight. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free. There's a great benefit package that's out of this world awaiting you. You're gonna be rewarded. You're gonna be before the beam of seat judgment of Christ, and you're gonna hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm gonna make you ruler over much. It's faithfulness, gang. It's faithfulness. Just be faithful where he's planted you. Be the best mom, the best dad, grandma, grandpa, son, daughter, worker. Be the best you can possibly be for his kingdom and his glory. And it's the faithfulness that getting up at four in the morning for forty years, putting your boots on and why do you do what you do? You You're a Christian. You do it as under the Lord. To not work, to be lazy, is to be a reproach. It's not a good Christian witness unless you're handicapped. If you're handicapped and you're begging alongside the pool of Siloam, Peter's gonna come along and John say, silver and gold have we none, James and Jesus Christ stand up and walk. Right? God's gonna move and work. We recognize there's a time where the body, maybe the mind just doesn't produce like it once did, and but God has a has a means of support around us, but it doesn't mean we quit, doesn't mean we don't keep serving the Lord through prayer, intercession, writing notes. I got I got a letter from Pamela this week, an old school handwritten letter Kathy and I got. What a joy. I mean, how much time does it take to write a letter like that? Do you have to put your phone down to do that? I mean, old school, and the the sweet, loving, nice things in that letter. You can write that letter. No. Not to me, to people out there you admire. My grandma used to send me a birthday card and $5 every every year, my whole life. She never forgot my birthday. It was always a joy and a blessing to open that card and read what she, you know, she'd write in there. Do we love in that way? Do we honor God in that way? Can we serve the Lord in that way? None of us none of us should be inactive. We should be able, if we're breathing, I used to say when we had the Roxy, put your finger right here. And if you can feel a pulse, God can use you. And it's true. God wants to use and can use and does use each of us. You just start at the bottom. You start and humble yourself before the Lord. You don't aspire who's gonna be the greatest. You serve the Lord in the season of small things, and he's gonna open more doors and give you more opportunities to serve him. Cathy and I, we we never aspired to be a pastor and to start a church. It was furthest thing from our minds. Who would do that? They need they need a therapist. We started teaching Sunday school, two year olds. We started doing Sunday school and home bible studies, and I wound up teaching fourth graders for four years, five years. And I didn't have any confidence at all about going into the ministry. But I tried to serve the Lord while I was working just wherever I could. The church is always in the bulletin saying they needed help. They needed people in Sunday school and all that. So hey, here am I, send me. So we we started out like that. And I didn't have goals of this is a stepping stone to greater things for God. No. It's just it's it's a joy and a blessing to serve him. And I wasn't trying to be seen to men. It's just a joy and a blessing to serve him. I always was blessed. And there's gonna be a day where the Lord blesses us, rewards us for faithfulness. Have you been faithful in the season of small things? Have you taken the investment that he's made in your life? Have you buried it? Or have you reinvest in the lives of others? If you reinvest in the lives of others, it's gonna bring forth fruit for his kingdom and his glory. He's gonna be glorified. And that's the way that we roll. Faithfulness is rewarded. In Luke, I love this in Luke. He's speaking to his disciples. In Luke twenty two twenty eight, ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. So many people quit. Three and a half years of ministry. The apostle Paul, at the end of his ministry, everybody fled. But the Lord stood with me, he said. And he gave a whole list of Epaphroditus and these people that bailed on him. But the Lord stood with me. Right? And Jesus is thinking of the many multitudes of people when he's feeding them with the loaves and the fishes that used to show up. And when he began to show them the intensity, the depth of love that that was needed of relationship to eat his body and to, you know, eat his flesh and drink his blood in the sense of you guys are just here for the material happy meals, the loaves and the fishes, but you're gonna need to have communion with me. You're gonna need to get to know me. It said many of his disciples walked away. They didn't sign up for that. They didn't sign up for an intense take your cross up daily and follow me relationship. They were there for the happy meals and the little toys in the box. And if you cease giving us what we want, we're out of here. We didn't sign up for that. So Jesus looks at the disciples after all they've been through, and he says, you you were they which have continued with me in my temptations. All the trials that he went through. And I appoint unto you kingdom, a kingdom. And as my father has appointed unto me, that you may eat and drink at my table. Isn't that a blessing? To eat and drink at the king's table? They got the best food. Remember Mephibosheth? Is there anyone in the house of David that's still alive? Anybody, you know, of Jonathan that that's still alive? David's saying of Jonathan? And, yeah. Yeah. There's one. And there's a servant named Ziba, and Ziba's looking after his stuff, but there there's Mephibosheth, the the the cripple. The guy that fell, the nurse that was carrying him, he fell and he broke his leg. He can't walk. And he's feeble. And yeah, there's Mephibosheth. Go and get Mephibosheth. Go get him. I wanna honor the memory of Jonathan, my brother. And of Saul, the house of Saul. And they went and they got Mephibosheth, and they said Ziba's gonna take care of your land, your horses, and everything, and I'm gonna restore unto you anything that was taken from you, and you're gonna sit at my table and eat at the king's table. What a great name for a restaurant, the king's table. Right? A buffet. All that you can eat. You're gonna eat at my table, the Lord says, in my kingdom. And you're gonna sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. In the millennium, Jesus is king of kings, David as a prince, and the 12 apostles on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. No replacement theology. It's a done deal. It's gonna happen. It's written. So shall it be. How is the servant to serve? With humility, wholeheartedly, with honor, with hope, and to the masters. Now he gets to the masters. Masters, what's his role? Number one, be fair. If you're a master, be fair. Verse nine. And ye masters, do the same things unto them. So don't exploit them. Don't be like Laban who has Jacob there and do the switcheroo and he's got eyes for Rachel. And he's willing to work seven years for the hand of Rachel and on the wedding night, you do the switcheroo and you put sore eyes in there, Leah. She's so ugly, it hurt to look at her. But oh, he fell in love with her. And Rachel, he cried with Rachel. He's so in love with Rachel, he cried. And he learned to love Leah, Leah was was fruitful. And with them and the handmaids, you know, he's gonna wind up leaving there with 12 kids. But he spends twenty years there. And as he's there twenty years, he's tending sheep and all, and and the brothers of of, Rachel's brothers and all, the sons of Laban, they're all getting jealous because Jacob is just so prolific. He's so being blessed of God. And as he's getting ready to leave, he charged Laban, you've changed my wages so many times. You've switched my contract all over the place, you know. But in spite of all your chicanery, and Jacob is a heel catcher, he's a conniver, but he met his match in Laban. But Laban, you know, they're they're battling in that way. And so Laban as an employer, as a as a master, didn't treat Jacob fairly, but God was able to go around Laban and bless Jacob and Rachel and Leah. God was building a nation. A workman's worthy of his wages. You don't muzzle the ox while he's treading out the grain. And Jesus is the one that said a workman's worthy of his hire. And the law states don't muzzle the ox while it's treading out the grain. That's one of my favorite phrases when we go out to eat, is don't muzzle the ox while I'm eating that tomahawk rib eye. In Colossians four one, it says, masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. And I would go to the length of be generous, on the side of grace. Be known for being a very generous employer, very generous master. You can't out give God. Don't be stingy. We reap what we sow. We sow sparingly, we're gonna reap sparingly. You wanna be able to keep the best workers, the best employees in all the town. And they want to work for you because you're a loving, godly, Christ like employer. You care. And they fight over each other to work for you. You have a reputation of being fair. Not only fair, but generous. Secondly, be friendly. He says, forbearing threatening. So motivate with love, not threats. Lighten up. I mean, these guys could be whipped. You could motivate them with a whip, with a horse whip. And he say, no, you're Christians. Don't don't motivate that way. Motivate with love, not threats. Lighten up. Don't be on the muscle all the time. You don't have to always be screaming and yelling and barking orders. There's time to bark orders when things are dangerous. You gotta raise your voice because a tree might fall down and hit somebody. There's times where people aren't paying attention and you might have to raise your voice. Your kids are gonna run out in the street. You gotta yell at them. Stop them. Get their attention. They're gonna get hurt. But as a normal way of communication, you don't need to have that high octave of yelling all the time. And what is it when people start getting old? Is it is it they lose their hearing so they start talking louder? To me, it sounds like they're yelling. It's like, hey. Hey. Hey. I'm right here. It's bizarre, isn't it? I think a lot of you guys, you take your hearing aids out and your wife has to talk louder. You're ignoring her. Motivate with love, not threats. Lighten up. A pagan named Aristotle, He said, there can never be friendship between master and slave for they have nothing in common. We have Jesus in common. That's a pagan attitude. And we have sayings where, you know, you you can't mix with the with the employees, can't mix with the works. The pastors typically, they have this thing of separation from the people. And they're the royalty, and never have lunch or be around the people because they'll disrespect you. Familiarity. Remember that word? Familiarity. How do you finish it? Breeds disrespect. So you've gotta maintain that Moses thing where you keep the veil on your face because if you take it off, they're gonna see that the glory has faded. So you gotta keep that going of how holy you are. You're the holy man. And if they go out to lunch with you and you're tired, something might come out of your mouth to show them you're human. And they they like lose respect for you maybe. So this hierarchy of pastors, it's like, no, I can't eat with the common people. I gotta so what did Jesus do? Who do you eat with? Anybody. Anybody. So I try to diffuse all that. I try to, ruin that, that idolatry, if you will, that celebrity that, you know, it's okay to respect, you know, the office or whatever and treat us nice, but you don't worship. You don't treat us better than others. God's no respecter of people. You can appreciate, and by mistake if you wanna talk, but you can do things. I mean, we appreciate, we love. We show our love and affection. Love not in word only, but in deed and in truth. But this whole hierarchy, the Leo Laodicean, Leo's people, and to see the the hierarchy like the priesthood and Nicolaitans, if you will. There it is. Nicolaitans, Nico and Lei. Laity is the the people, and the Nico was the the priest and the religious ones, and they rule over people. Well, Jesus doesn't want the hierarchy to be ruling over people, lording over people. So love on them. Motivate with love. And ministry is more caught than it is taught. I was talking to Brittany yesterday, and you know, if you're a person that needs instruction every day to know what to do, you're not gonna last in ministry. We're gonna spend the time to model the Christian life, to model servanthood. If you see me emptying trash and taking it out to the back dumpster at the Roxy, if you see me picking up cigarette butts out front while the kids are, you know, inside and outside and throwing it in the trash out front, if you see me serving in that capacity, mimic. Mimic what I'm doing if you want to serve. Don't stand around with your finger up your nose, taking up space, hindering the youth from helping me. We made you a youth leader. Lead. And so, you get this attitude where somehow their mom or their dad has to tell them every day what they need to do. It's pretty self explanatory. You know your role, you know what we expect of you, you know your chores, do them. Quit talking and do them. So ministry is more caught than it is taught. You spend the time to teach, you instruct, you demonstrate, you show, But, the servant needs to have some initiative and do it the the same way with redundancy as you're taught in the military. The same way every time. Don't arbitrarily make up your own way. You'll blow something up. It may seem boring, but do it the right way every time. And do it. And so motivate with love, not threats. Lighten up. And so masters, be fair, be friendly, and thirdly, be forgiving. Knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is the respect of persons with him. So what has God forgiven you? What debt has he forgiven? What have you been forgiven? In Matthew 18, Peter thought he was really cute. He said, Jesus, should we forgive somebody seven times? Wow. I'm a really good guy, man. I'm gonna forgive somebody seven times. And Jesus said, no. How about 70 times seven, Peter? How about innumerable amount of times you forgive somebody that wronged you? And then Jesus illustrated it. He said, you know, there's a master, there's a king, a ruler, and he had a servant, and this servant had a debt of 10,000 talents that he owed. And the master says, well, I'm gonna sell this servant and his wife and his children to recover the the the debt that he owes me. And the servant went to the master and he begged him and he begged him and he, you know, crying out to him, have patience with me and I'll pay you all. And it says he began to worship his master. And the master, it says, had compassion on him and he forgave the whole debt. And that's what Jesus did for you and I. He forgave the whole debt. You don't have to work to get into heaven. You don't have to work to find favor. Grace is unmerited favor. You simply don't try to work him. You simply love on him, worship him, treat him with respect, and you allow him from the abundance of his heart to wanna bless you. Not negotiating contracts, making deals. I'll drive him to church if you give me a new van. No. You be thankful for what he's already blessed you with, and say, Lord, how can I serve you? How can I how can I use the time, the talent, the treasure that you've afforded me to honor you and to glorify you? How can I do that, Lord? Because everything comes from you. And so that servant, he went out of there forgiven, and he's all jazzed and excited. Right? So he went, there's no debt. He's debt free. So he goes and he finds a fellow servant that owed him a 100p. So you got a million dollar debt that's forgiven, and some guy owes you a $100. And it used to be a picture of Benjamin on there, now it's a picture of Donald j Trump on there. And this guy doesn't have the means to pay you. And he's begging you. He's asking you to pay him. And and you're impatient. And you grab him by the neck and you choke him and you sell him. And then the other servants hear about it, the other employees hear about it, and they go back to the master, and they say, you can read about this Matthew 18, by the way. And they say, hey, you remember that servant that you forgave everything, the entire debt? He you should see what he just did. He grabbed the guy by the throat and brought him to the slave market and sold him into slavery. And Jesus went on to describe how that master's gonna grab hold of that wicked servant. And because of his unforgiveness, and he's gonna wind up punishing him in hell. Not 70 times seven, Peter. Unlimited. You keep forgiving. Keep forgiving. Keep forgiving them. From the heart, we forgive. Now I like in in Luke seventeen one through three, from the standpoint of fellowship, you've got some irregular people in your life that cause you trouble. In Matthew 18 sense, you're gonna forgive them from your heart. In Luke 17 sense, you can't restore them to fellowship with you. You can't trust them in your life until you see repentance. Because but you don't wanna harbor resentment bitterness, so you're gonna you're gonna forgive them from your heart. Not gonna hold it against them, but you're gonna be a little bit wiser this time, and make sure that you see the fruit of repentance before you allow them in as close as they once were when they did much damage. Do you understand that? It's important to understand that. Be wise as serpent, gentle as doves, and be forgiving. Philemon was a master, and he had a servant named Onesimus. And Onesimus was, his name means profitable. And Onesimus in the city of Colossae, Onesimus ran away and he went to Rome. And when he was in Rome, Paul's in prison there, and Onesimus became a Christian. And what did Paul do? He didn't say, Onesimus, keep running. Go to Spain. You're free. No. He said, go back. Go back to your master because Paul knew Philemon. Philemon came to know the Lord through Paul's ministry also when he was in Colossae. So if you read the little book of of Philemon, he's instructed him to receive him not just as a servant, but as a brother now. And he may have been unprofitable to you, but now he's gonna be profitable. He's gonna be Onesimus, you know, on into the future. And so he says, not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, especially to me. But how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord? And so no power trips were family. And then Paul reminded Philemon, if he owes you anything, if he's done anything, put that on my account. And he reminded Philemon, because you know what you owe me. You owe me your very salvation. Can you talk to people that way? Can you talk to people that way? I don't know. If if a person gets saved here and then we invest in their lives, we pour the word of God into them and love on them and baptize them and dedicate their kids and get them up and going. What's funny is in many cases, they reach a place where now they're smarter than me. They know more than me. They're like petulant children, and they run off somewhere else that's easier. And it's like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. We're the ones that were with you when you're going through divorce. We're the ones that held your hand and prayed with you and ministered you while things were tough when you lost your job. But now that your life's all put back together, Humpty Dumpty, now you're too good for us? Now you're gonna go down somewhere else where here's smooth things, convenient things? We helped you get through COVID. Why would you go support churches that shut down and receive money for shutting down? The more we love you, the less you love us in return. We helped you through that crisis. We exercised discernment and and heartfelt prayer and seeking the mind of the Lord. But oh, I guess it was nothing. Guess it didn't matter really. In Matthew twenty three eight, Jesus said, be not ye called rabbi for one is your master, even Christ, and you're all brethren. Matthew twenty three twelve, whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. In Mark nine thirty five, if any man desire to be first, you wanna be first, The same shall be last of all and servant of all. The example of Jesus washing feet. Are you ambitious? Are you aspiring greatness? But it eludes you wise because of pride. God resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. Jesus said, except a corn of wheat. Jesus is analyzing it. Promotion comes not from the north, west, east, or south. Promotion comes from the Lord. He raises up one, sets down another. He's looking at the heart. He's looking at King Saul. He's a head taller of everybody. He's gonna elevate him and he's telling Samuel, they haven't rejected you Samuel, they've rejected me. They want a king like all the other nations. But God's saying, that's not my man. I have a man over here, eventually David, a man after my own heart. God sees the heart. Man looks on the outward. So what's the problem of your advancement? You wanna serve the Lord, you wanna do well, well except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. You gotta die. You gotta die. You gotta keep dying. You gotta take your cross up daily. The cross represents death. Every day, you gotta offer yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. You take that cross up, you follow Jesus, the life of self denial, somebody barks orders at you, somebody mistreats you at work, you take it. You humble yourself. You put your head down, and you keep working. You move forward. You don't whine, you don't complain, you don't gossip. You do your work as under the Lord. Humble yourself. He that love this life shall lose it. He that hates his life in this world, he shall keep it into life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am there also shall my servant be, my servant. If any man serve me, him will my father honor my servant. I like serving the Lord. Do you like serving the Lord? Would you love in a group of people to hear the Lord say, hey, look at there's my servant over there. All of us would like that unless he's talking to Satan. Right? My servant Job. No, Lord. Keep that under the radar. Don't say that. Do you know the joy and the blessing of being the Lord's servant? Jesus said, you didn't choose me, but I chose you. And I ordain that you should bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain. That what's you ask the father in my name, he may give it you. What a privilege and a blessing to be the Lord's servant. What a privilege and a blessing as the body of Christ to have bosses, masters, and servants, and but we're able to love one another. There isn't this hierarchy, there isn't this I mean, we come to communion, when we come to church, we're brothers. When we're at work, we respect our boss and we do the work as unto the Lord. We're not gonna try and take advantage of the boss because we're a Christian, and we want a softer responsibility. No. We're gonna go the extra mile. We're gonna turn the other cheek. We're gonna be the best worker we can possibly be. We might even become a supervisor of another group of people because we've been faithful unto the Lord in that season of small things. And the master, as he increases in wealth and God's blessing and all, he's gonna be able to be more generous and give him raises and Christmas bonuses or just just love on him. Hear about somebody, their car breaks down, he helps them get into a new car or fix the car, give them a set of tires, know. There's so many ways that we serve the Lord and we serve one another as a family. I'm amazed, and I'll finish with this, but I'm amazed as I've heard simply in the in the world of finances. The way the Jewish culture, Jews in New York, help each other. Working together to advance their whole life long. That's just a culture that's working together with finance, with loans, with education, with investments. And we're so incredibly divided, every man for himself, you know. And we lose the power, the devil comes in and divides. If we'd have stuck together, if we'd have just stuck together, you know, we'd have made it into the promised land. But Korah, Dathan, and Abram came in and began to challenge Moses and divided everything, got everyone fighting, and people were filled with unbelief. And in that unbelief, we grieved, we quenched the holy spirit, and we defeated ourselves. Shouldn't be that way. We should be a witness in our community of those that work well together, that help one another. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. Help us, Lord, to apply these truths to our lives. Lord, I thank you for my first job. I thank you how it liberated me being a busboy. And, Lord, I just can't thank enough. I can't thank you for the jobs I've had, and the customers that you gave me that treated me so well, and the equipment, and the tools, and the strong back for a while, just the ability to to work. Lord, it all comes from you. Everything we have comes from you. I just thank you so much, Lord. I thank you for the folks in the church over the years who have contributed, who have helped, who have served, who have volunteered. We have a great great group of servants as we all serve alongside each other. And Lord, I pray there would be a sweetness, just a real sweetness as we minister, continue to minister one to another in the days ahead. That we live like a body of believers. No schism, no division, no hierarchy, just loving on one another. By this shall all men know that we're your disciples if we have love one for another, Lord. Help us, we pray. Help us to crucify the flesh, Lord, to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, to follow your example, not coming to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give our lives as a ransom for many. And Lord, again, we do thank you for, on this memorial weekend, all those that sacrificed their lives, and the husbands and the wives that made the sacrifice of being married and serving maybe together even in the military, Lord. We thank you for our freedom. We thank you for the blessing. We thank you, Lord, for your son who is willing to go to the Cross Of Calvary and take our punishment upon himself. That which we deserved, that he came to give his life a ransom for us, Lord. We thank you, Lord. We worship you. And while your heads are bowed, as you continue to pray, we wanna give an invitation. We wanna give you the opportunity this morning. If you don't know Jesus, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, not about ritual, it's not about religion, it's not about going through the motions, it's about knowing the true living God. He came and he took on the form of a man as the babe of Bethlehem. He grew and became Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. And he proved that he's God by being crucified, buried, and raised himself from the dead three days later. He walked on the planet for another forty days, being seen of over 500 people. He ascended to the right hand of his father. And then on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, I think this is Pentecost weekend too. I think, pretty soon. Anyway, the holy spirit's poured out the formation of the church. He told Nicodemus, a religious leader, that you must be born again. And that's our exhortation to you this morning. Your body and soul, but you need to be body, soul, and spirit. So as you turn from your sin in repentance, as you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you believe in your heart that he was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Are you calling upon the Lord? Lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Anyone this morning? Anybody on Facebook? Just lift your hand up. I can see your hand. I can see it. Like Hobo Kelly, I can see in there. Yeah. I see it. Just let us know. Correspond with us. Let us know if God's touched your heart. Father, thank you. Thank you for your love, Lord. Fill us to overflowing with your love and your spirit. It's such a joy and a blessing to serve you, Lord, with these people here this morning. Such a joy and a blessing to see the gifting, the way that you gift each of us, Lord. The way these gifts intermesh and the way we work together as a body. So help us evermore to glorify you, Lord, in these last days as best we can. In Jesus' name, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
