PREPARING FOR SUNDAY RAISED UP FOR CHANGE-June 9, 2019

 

Dear Friends,

More and more we are encouraged to live for ourselves. the culture and all the marketing we are exposed to continually tell us to indulge and live to please self. it is important to know yourself and to have healthy limits. Sadly, often we selfishly set limits that avoid anything that makes us uncomfortable or inconvenienced. we are trained to be consumers in society and in the church. Often churches have embraced the culture by tailoring their message to sell to religious customers not servants of Christ.

Jesus made the life of a servant the mark of greatness in His kingdom.

Mark 10:43 “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Serving is the purpose of our reason for remaining on earth.

Serving God and serving others like Christ is our mission.

This Sunday we will learn how we can experience the raised-up life of Christ for serving. I really pray you come. Being with others is the first step to seeing how to serve.

Blessings,

Joe

Describe a time when someone lovingly served you and how it affected you?

 

 

What is the biggest barrier in you to committing to serving others?

 

 

Why is serving like Jesus almost never easy or convenient?

Philippians 2:3-9 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5  Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason, also, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name.

 

 

What is the proof that someone has grown up into a mature disciple?

Philippians 2:4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

 

 

Why do you think getting people to commit to serving as part of a church is so hard?

 

 

Why do we have to pursue serving?

 

 

What are ways we can serve as a follower of Christ?

1 Peter 4:9-11 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11  Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

 

What ways do you like to serve?

 

 

Describe a time when your happiness came from serving others?

John 13:12-17 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.14  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.15  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.16  I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.17  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.