Starting Serving

If you can just think of one reason to praise God, I'm sure we all have one in common, is He's put breath in our lungs. So Lord, we raise our voice and clap with our hands like this. Come on, church. God has been so good, He deserves our praise. Come on, sing it out. ♪ I praise in the valley, praise on a mountain ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm sore, praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm numbered, praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ Cause praise is the water my enemies surrounded ♪ Sing it, as long as I'm breathing. ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I got a reason to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm feeling, praise when I know ♪ ♪ I praise cause I know, you're still in control ♪ Sing my praise is a weapon. ♪ My praise is a weapon, it is more than a sound, more than a sound ♪ ♪ More than a sound, my praise is a shout that brings Jericho down ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I got a reason to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I'm gonna praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ Come on, put your hands up. ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ Thank you this morning. You're an amazing God.

Come on, church, raise your voice and sing it out with us. ♪ I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, I praise you ♪ ♪ Praise cause you reign, praise cause you're all ♪ ♪ I praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, I praise you ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh, my soul, I praise you, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I praise you, praise the Lord, I praise you ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, oh, my soul, praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, I won't be quiet, I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ My God is alive, how could I keep it? Say, I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it? Say, I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ My God is alive, how could I keep it? Say, I'm gonna praise the Lord, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Because He picked me up, He turned me around, He cleansed my feet all solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because He healed my heart, He changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because He picked me up, He turned me around, He cleansed my feet all solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because He healed my heart, He changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God! ♪ Come on, give Him praise, church! Well, hey, good morning. Welcome to the local church. It's the perfect place for imperfect people to experience the presence of God. I'm so grateful He meets us here. You guys can be seated for just a quick... Minutes and hey, my name is Carson Pedraza. It is my privilege and honor and joy to welcome you guys here today Especially if you're a guest if you're a guest in our house We're so grateful that you're spending your Sunday morning with us. In fact, we have a free gift just for you

It's our little way of saying thank you for joining us If you haven't already done so do us a favor fill out that connect card in the seat back in front of you We want to put a free gift in your hands so much more than that We want to get to know your name and your story make sure you get a proper welcome here today And hey, whether you're a guest or you've been around a while You chose a great day to be at the local church because today is serve team weekend for the last month We've been talking about what it looks like to improve your serve how we are made for more We are made for servanthood as we follow the steps of Jesus And so all month long we've been talking about improving that how we can use all the things that God has Equipped us with to be able to serve his kingdom to be able to serve his people and so this weekend We have an opportunity to find the best fit for you here at the local church So as soon as service is over We'll have a chance to go see all the serve teams that you can use your giftings your passions your story To better fuel the local church. So be sure to stick around for that get to know some of our serve teams It's gonna be a great very fun weekend And one of the things that makes every weekend a fun weekend is that we get to pray for and with each other And so I'm gonna lead us in our familiar prayer praying for a handful of prayer requests that you guys have trusted us with Representative of the oh-so-many and so if you're comfortable Would you extend a hand in agreement as we pray for and with each other God we come to you with praise Because we know that when we get to enter your gates with Thanksgiving We have to enter your gates by acknowledging that you are a God who is so worthy of our praise so worthy of honor So so worthy of recognizing your glory in our lives, and so we just say thank you Lord. Thank you that you meet us Thank you that you guide us. Thank you that you heal us Thank you that you that you hear our words, and they don't fall on deaf ears But instead they fall in your hands, and it's a safest place for all of our worries and all of our concerns So God we come alongside Kristen right now Who's just diagnosed with stump tumors that that are so rare even doctors don't know but God you know God in the name of Jesus you can bring healing over her body in the name of Jesus You can bring understanding in those doctors hearts and minds in the name of Jesus You can show up in a circumstance that looks like there is no answer

And you can bring all of the answers and all of it that is needed in her life And so God we pray that over her right now Lord God we pray alongside Clayton who's looking for work God God we know that you not only have planned for him that you are not only our provider Financially, but God you are a provider for wisdom that you provide the right next steps that you provide the right open doors God that you provide purpose in our lives So God we pray that over Clayton Lord that you would continue to provide for his life Lord and Lord we come alongside Somebody who's not willing to say their name, but is willing to say that they are at the end of their rope That they are ready to give up that their battle of depression and anxiety has gotten to be too much But God your word tells us that you give us peace Your word tells us that you give us peace that is not like this of the world But peace that comes can only from you and that our hearts should not be troubled until God we pray your peace Over this person right now, but not just your peace God your understanding not just your understanding God your comforts Not just your comfort God, but your healing over anxiety and over depression not just not just your your understanding God But also God your your name over this disease had has plagued their hearts and minds Lord We believe that you can meet them where they are. We believe that you can send the people God We believe that you can change all of this in an instant God and that not only would they not be ready to give up But that they'll be ready to to run towards you and claim the joy of your name Jesus God we pray that they would show up. We pray that you would meet them We pray that they would find the help that they need God and that hope would not be lost God We pray that over everybody in this room right now Who maybe feels like there is no way out who may feels like there is no hope left Lord I pray that your hope would hit us like a tidal wave Lord. I pray your healing would show up like a tidal wave I pray that your provision would show up like a tidal wave gotta pray for all of the worries in this room right now Jesus That that it maybe have have roots will have taken root in our hearts and minds Lord I pray that you would uproot those worries God and you would replace them with your joy We would place them with your peace would replace them with your love We pray replace them for what you have for them for your promises God. We thank you that you meet us We thank you that you guide us We thank you that you never give up on us even when we give up Lord that you never have let us go That you will not forsake us that you will guide us and love us and lead us. So we pray

Lord we are here to worship you To recommit our lives each day Father God declaring that we will follow you Wherever you go Father God, we know we were made for more So we serve as you serve us Father God And we serve others Thank you Jesus How long we've been quiet, silenced by the lies of the enemy But a new song is rising, from our mouths we'll sing out a new melody We will not miss this moment, we were born for such a time as this Reaching for our brothers and our sisters, we won't let the devil win We won't look back at our old lives, we've seen the pain Yeah, he paid it all and now we are his, he's everything And I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go We've got no more questions, we will go, into his authority Jesus exalted is our vision, we say yes, with no apologies I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go I have decided, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go Just Jesus, we'll follow you, all the days of our life We raise our voices and declare it this morning, that we're riding with you Lord I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere he leads us, that's where we will go

I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own I'm riding with Jesus wherever he goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own No! I'm riding with Jesus wherever He goes! Living, surrendering, this life's not my own! I'm riding with Jesus wherever He goes! Living, surrendering, this life's not my own! I'm riding with Jesus wherever He goes! Living, surrendering, this life's not my own! I'm riding with Jesus wherever He goes! Come on church! Give Him the gloria. No! I will desire Him. I will follow Jesus. Anywhere He leads us, that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus. Anywhere He leads us, that's where we will go. Thank you, Jesus. And you've chosen us, Father God, and you can use us. So we surrender to you, Lord. We're here as a vessel, Lord. God, use us. Use us, Lord. I'm at the altar dying again. Crushed for your purpose, boiled within. My life, living off of you. You are the bottom. I am the bay. Hold me and make me, Lord, halfway.

I will surrender to your hand. You can use me, Lord. Come, my God. You can use me, Lord. I won't prohibit you from anything. Living is Christ, dying is gain. My God, do it all again. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. Oh, I'm right here. I'm right here. Yes, I am. You use me, Lord. I surrender, Lord. Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am, Lord. Send me.

Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am. Lord, send me. Jesus, I surrender. My life is yours forever. Here I am, Lord. Send me. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. Oh. Oh. You can use me, Lord. You can use me, Lord. You can use me Lord Jesus has surrendered Jesus has surrendered My life is yours forever Here I am Lord send me Jesus has surrendered My life is yours forever Here I am Lord send me Jesus has surrendered My life is yours forever Here I am Lord send me

Jesus has surrendered My life is yours forever Here I am Lord send me You are worthy Lord You are worthy You're an amazing God You deserve all praise I am an instrument of exaltation And I was born to lift the name above all names You hear the melody of all creation There's a song of praise that only I can bring Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus You are the image, God of the ages Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling You heal the broken and show me your glory So I have songs of thanks not even angels sing Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus

Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus We give you praise We give you honor What a beautiful God we serve Jesus, you're worthy There is none like you Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Righteous one, who shed his blood To prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Righteous one, who shed his blood To prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ Always a voice to say, who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ There is no one but only You Jesus ♪ Come on, let's sing this together. ♪ You're the Lamb of God, appointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood ♪ ♪ To prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood to prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood to prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood to prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ Thank You, Lord. You're worthy, Jesus.

Thank You, Jesus. Father, thank You. Thank You for the privilege of being Your sons and daughters. Thank You for the privilege of knowing Your Son, Jesus. Jesus, we tell You today, You are worthy. You're the only one worthy of our lives, our praise. We will follow You, we will obey You. Would You teach us now, Lord? We've come with hearts that need to be encouraged, some that need to be lifted, some that need to be instructed. But, Father, by Your Spirit, would You make the truth of Your Word come alive to us today? You're worthy. We worship You. We love You. In Christ, we make this prayer. Amen. Thank you, church. Please be seated. I am so glad that you are here today. Our service guides are coming forward. We're going to give together. We do this every week. Most of us give online, but we do the pass-the-bucket thing for those who would like to put something in the bucket, but also to remind all of us that giving is part of worship. You cannot worship Jesus without giving Him your life, and that includes your finances. Thanks for your generosity and what you make possible here at the local church.

I hope you've got your notes. I hope you're ready to go. We're in week five, the last week of a series that we have called Improving your serve made for more Improving your serve. It's based on this truth. However much, you know, Jesus. There's more however closely you follow him There's more however much he's taught you There is more and the way to get to that more to access that more is by becoming a servant It's by choosing to serve others I'm Dan Sutherland one of the pastors and teachers here at the local church my privilege to teach today in this last Part five last piece of this series. Let's review. None of us remember what we covered the first four weeks So here's some highlights week one We talked about the definition of a servant is somebody who serves God by serving others in his name The servant serves God that's this way by serving others That's this way and then back in his name week two We talked about the heart of a servant and we discovered that none of us can serve everybody But Jesus wants me to be willing to serve every person in my life That's the willingness and when he puts somebody in my path with a need I can meet That's my opportunity to serve God by meeting that need week three pastor Johnny killed it He always does did a great job. He taught us that when Jesus is our audience Service will be our focus If you if you claim to love Jesus you serve others and if you don't serve others, you don't love Jesus That's pretty much what the scripture teaches last week. We talked about the fact that we are saved to serve That Jesus saves us for the personal peace us getting our salvation eternity with him But also with a purpose that he wants us to serve others today's title is start Serving now and I'll tell you on the front end what we're aiming to do We're gonna finish a little bit early and send you outside where there's a ton of booths and a ton of people Representing a ton of serve teams where you can sign up to serve today I want to start this teaching a little bit off track by showing you a Bible tool that I use Every single week. It's almost like legal cheating when it comes to the scriptures because it just makes it so accessible

The the the website is in your notes. It's Bible gateway Comm it is the most popular Christian website in the world more hits than any other site I'm going to show you how it works our verse for today is 2nd Corinthians 6 2 so if you type that in to that website Here's what you get It gives you that verse in whatever translation you choose This one is the New Living Translation my favorite translation and the verse says for God says it just the right time I heard you on the day of salvation. I helped you indeed The right time is now today is the day of salvation Now if pastor Eric were teaching today and he's back in a couple of weeks He'd put it up there in the English Standard Version, which is his favorite version So you just change the translation and it pops up like this English Standard for God says in a favorable time. I listen to you in a day of salvation I've helped you behold now is the favorable time behold now is the day of salvation. Here's the cool part 60 different translations available six zero You don't have to spread out 60 different Bibles to get access to this You just change it according to which one you want to look at but here's another feature of BibleGateway.com I used it to do this teaching this week You can enter a word and it will show you every time that word occurs in the scripture Genesis to Revelation so I put the word now in this week and that popped up Notice what it says 1,270 times Now church, here's that how that works for me if God uses a word 1,270 times it's a big word to God He wants us to pay attention to it. And that is the point right now back in your notes. We're out of Bible Gateway We're back to your notes that word occurs 1,270 times you know what that means now this matters. I don't know if now this is a word I made it up

Now this matters immediacy matters urgency matters Write this in your notes the right time to do the right thing. It's always right now. We read Scripture or we listen to Scripture being taught here at the local church or at other churches and we think this is good general guidance for some time in my life. And you know what? It is. But it's more than that. It's also specific guidance for right now. What do I do with this truth right now? This is the reason we ask the question every week, what did Jesus teach you and what are you going to do about it? Maybe we need to add what are you going to do now about it? Because that is the emphasis. Write this in. There's an immediacy aspect to the Bible that we tend to miss. You know, we think of it kind of like we think of a diet. Well, I'll start that diet next week. Or you know what? I'll start that diet the first of next month. Or I'll get to that eventually. God's not offering us diet truth. God is offering us spiritual truth to apply in our lives right now. He doesn't give me direction for next week, next month, next year. He gives me direction for now. So what I want to talk about today is how can I start serving now? Practical lesson. Again, turned you loose early. Give you a chance to go check out some serve teams and sign up. How do I start serving now? Here they are. Number one, examine your spiritual GPS. All of us have had our lives changed by GPS. I grew up driving in a moment where you'd had to have an atlas as big as this table if you took a long trip. And you had to flip the pages open. And you had to hope it had where you were going somewhere in that atlas. And today GPS has spoiled us. You pull in an address and say go. It tells you how to get there. Step-by-step. It is amazing. I particularly appreciate GPS because the number one company on the cutting end of GPS from cell phones all the way to guidance systems for airplanes is called Garmin. And they're located in Kansas City. I mean I could take you right to their headquarters. Garmin makes a GPS tracker that's so good in the open ocean that I can find a great fishing hole last year and come back within 20

feet of that spot this year in the open water just following the GPS. Global Positioning Satellite. It's a system of guidance that's amazing. I think there's a bigger one. I believe God has put a spiritual GPS inside every one of us. And if we'll just take the time to discover it, it will show us where to serve. So let's look at these. The G stands for gifts. God wants you to serve in an area where he has gifted you. If you are gifted with children. If you love children. If you'd rather be with children than adults. Wow! You ought to serve with kids. But in all honesty, if you don't like kids, please don't volunteer for kids. That's not your gift. I mean God puts us in areas of giftedness. God has never called me to be in charge of administration or details. Why? I can't spell either word. Not my gift. But I do have a gift to teach. I do have a gift to encourage. I have a little bit of a gift to lead. So when I walk in my gifts, I find joy in my service. Look at your gifts. If you need help with that, you can check out ConnectTrack, where we go through a spiritual gift inventory on the last Sunday every month. You can sign up for that. G is gifts. P is passion. God has given you passion for certain things. If you are passionate about some area of society that's broken, God may be calling you to do something about that brokenness. If you are fired up about something, serve in that area of passion. I am passionate about teaching. I love the studying. I love writing a script eight or nine or ten times. I love the teaching itself. You know what I love more than anything else? The life change that people tell me about afterwards. The way God takes his word and applies it again. That's my passion. I love it. So the G is gift, the P is passion, the S is your story. God gives a hint about where you should serve because of your story, because of your experience, because what you've been through in life. God never wastes an experience, good, bad, or ugly. He uses them. So you may look back and say, I've had good experiences when I've done this, or you may look back and say, wow, that was the most horrible part of my life.

God can still use it to qualify you to serve in that area, especially the painful experiences. Check out this verse, 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 and 4. All praise to God, our father of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful father and the source of all comfort. There's the first time. He comforts us second time in all our troubles so that we can comfort others, third use of comfort. When they are troubled, we'll be able to give them the same comforts God has given us. I'm an etymologist. I pay attention to words. God uses the word comfort four times in two verses. I'm going, I think he's telling me something, and here's what he's telling us all. Whatever your pain has been and God comforted you through it, you are now uniquely qualified to help people walk through that same pain. Uniquely qualified. My wife had a horrible childhood, including sexual abuse. No child should have to experience that. It has left her with depression that is deep. Know what she's done with it? She writes about it. She talks about it. She teaches on it. She refused to be a victim and instead became an overcomer and offers other people, particularly women, help and advice and comforts that were sexually abused themselves, that deal with depression themselves. Do I qualify for that? Not even close. Depression for me is the fact that my chiefs didn't make it to the Super Bowl. That's not a deep, dark depression. I'm not qualified.

She is. God uses our gifts, our passion, our story. So already some of you are thinking, wow, if I look at that pattern, I can see which way God is leading me to serve, to help, to jump in. Examine your GPS. Here's a hint. If you can't figure out your GPS, somebody who knows you well may be able to see it. Invite them to speak about your gifts, your passion, your story. That's number one. Examine your spiritual GPS. Number two, decide to start serving now. This is a big one. Again, the nowness of Scripture, the immediacy of Scripture. Jesus says today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to act on this. Now the problem is there are two lies that I have watched thousands of Christ followers give in to. These two lies keep us from serving. Here's lie number one. Are you ready? We don't have time to serve. If Jesus tells us to do something and he does say serve one another, he does say if you're going to be like me, I didn't come to be served but to serve. If he gives us a command like serve others and we don't find time for it, we're basically saying Jesus, I don't have time to do what you've told me to do. Now I will admit the enemy is good at keeping us busy. Can I give you a hint? This is not in your notes. It should be. If the enemy can't get you messed up by pulling you into something evil, he will pull you

into enough good things to keep you so busy that you don't serve God. If he can't mess you up by pulling you into something sinful and evil, he's got a secondary strategy. I'll just keep this person busy. They got enough things going on with their kids or their grandkids or the neighborhood or they're doing good things, but if good will keep them from God, I'll do it. And when you and I say we don't have time to serve, folks, that means we are too busy. Give some good thing up for a God thing. What a way to serve. it's a big deal. And by the way, some of us say it this way, well, I'll serve when life slows down. I'm 69, I turn 70 in May. Can I help you with this? It doesn't slow down. It doesn't. I'd love to tell you it does. It don't. That's bad English, but it's what I meant. It don't slow down. So we've got to figure out, don't give in to the lie. Here's the other lie. You ready? I hear this one a lot. We're a young church. I'll serve when I'm done with the kids. Got kids, don't have time to serve. Now, kids, wow. That's a level of busyness all of its own. By the way, when they leave home as adults and you say, thank you, Jesus, get a quick breath, they're coming back. And sometimes they come back and bring the grandkids with them. Now, that's a good thing. I mean, I enjoy that. Mary and I downsized in Kansas City to the smallest place we've ever lived in. Six months later, our son, daughter-in-law, and their four kids moved in with us after we downsized. You're never done with the kids. But my point is that your kids need to see you serve. We'll throw a picture up here that you've seen before. You ready for it? Have you seen that person and that little boy? That's Dee and that's Sebastian. Dee, you're in the back of the room, aren't you? I see you back there. Wave at him, Dee. Right there in her white serve team shirt. You got Sebastian? Hey, buddy. Sometimes I put him to sleep. I have that gift. Next picture. Dee is part of our media team, our creative arts team. She takes pictures. If you've paid attention, that's where you've seen her. She came Thursday night. She's here all four services today and she will take pictures. That's Sebastian on her back telling her, move a little to the left, mom. You know, I mean, he's directed the pictures. I think that's what's going on. Now, here's my point. That boy is going to grow up thinking

serving God is normal. He's going to have memories that say, this is what we do. This is how we serve God. Wow, what a picture. We don't want the picture that says to our kids, well, we don't have time to serve. We're busy, you know. We're busy in sports and we're busy in this and we're busy in that. Too busy for God? Too busy to serve? There are not many things that Mary and I got right with our kids. We blew a lot of things. I have a list of them. Anybody that says they've got no regrets has never raised kids. I mean, I got some regrets, but I do not regret this. They grew up seeing their parents serve. They saw their parents, mom and dad, serve God at church, serve God in the community, serve God in our circle of friends. We took in stray people. We took in stray animals. We stopped on the side of the road to help anybody that was in trouble. They saw us serve. And they're both in their 40s this year, and they're now teaching their kids, my grandkids, to serve because it's a normal part of following Christ. Don't give in to the lies. D, thank you for your example. Sebastian, thank you for directing your mom. So cool, buddy. So cool. I see you. Yeah, he really is cute, D. That doesn't hurt anything. He's awesome. God is asking us to be willing to serve. So first, examine your GPS. Give passion story. Second, decide to start serving. Now, before we go to the third and very short point, check out this video. Hi, my name is Ty. I have been serving here at Local Kids for a little bit less than a year. I currently work as a nurse in a local hospital. So I thought it would be a good idea and a good transition for me. One of my favorite moments is how we close the class in prayer. And I always ask the kiddos to contribute to the prayer and to hear what they have to say. It gives me the warmest, fuzziest feeling. It's like the best part of my day. Here at the Local Kids, we love creating like a good safe environment for them to be able to grow and blossom and to see them come back in the next week with their homework excited for class and to see that perspective. You've changed for them, to see them, their love for being around the other kids. And so it's really cool. I would tell somebody who's hesitant to serving, if God places it on your heart, I would truly encourage you to step into that because you would be amazed what God can do through you

if you give your heart to him. Serving at the local church has taught me humility. You've seen the folks in the orange shirts, that's the local kids team. They work with our kids all over the room today. There are people in the white shirts that say made for more, ask me about my serve team. I hope you will ask somebody today. I hope you'll check out. If you sign up for something, you're not signing up forever, you're signing up to give it a shot. So that's the third point, would you write it in? Sign up today. Now is the time, today is the day. On your way out, you're gonna see all kinds of tables. When you walk straight out on the patio, there's a three-sided display that tells you kind of a path for figuring out where you ought to serve. It asks questions like, are you an extrovert or introvert? And then it gives direction as to what you should check out. Carson, did you come up with that? Yeah, it's really good. Yeah, you used words on there I didn't even know. That was really awesome. It's really good, check that out. And then as you go and take a ride down toward the parking area, there will be all kinds of people out there,

different serve teams. You can stop, you can check it out, you can ask questions. Let's wrap this up. We serve God by serving others in Jesus' name. God wants us to serve, he blesses when we serve. Here's the last two blanks of the day, you ready? You get as much out of church as you put into it. In fact, I think I could say you get as much out of the kingdom of God as you put into it. If you spectate and consume, you're gonna like it. You don't come here every week because you don't like it, you come because you do. But if you serve and contribute, you will love it. The most blessed people, the most joyous people in any church are those who serve. The band is up here to just give us some walking out music. So they're gonna kick it up in a minute. I'm gonna pray a 30 second prayer and turn you loose to get outside a few minutes early and sign up, check out some places to serve. Father, we want to say yes to you. We know you tell us to serve. So today we're open to finding the right place for us. Lead us as we do this. It's our prayer in Christ, amen. Head out guys, God bless, love ya.