The Attitude of a Servant

♪♪ ♪ Some people think that I'm crazy. ♪ ♪ Some even call me a fool. ♪ ♪ But I found a love so amazing. ♪ ♪ If only, if only they knew. ♪ ♪ All of the times He's provided. ♪ ♪ The miracles, wonders, and signs. ♪ ♪ So how can I give Him half of my worship? ♪ ♪ And I should be no surprise. ♪ ♪ So ask me why I worship the way that I do. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to praise Him. ♪ ♪ I know I've got nothing to lose. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to love. ♪ ♪ I've got a reason, yeah. ♪ ♪ I've got a peace overwhelming. ♪ ♪ A joy that I can't put in words. ♪ ♪ From all of His blessings He pours out from heaven. ♪ ♪ I'll give Him what He deserves. ♪ ♪ So ask me why I worship the way that I do. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to praise Him. ♪ ♪ I know I've got nothing to lose. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to love. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to. ♪ ♪ Clap my hands, move my feet, get undignified. ♪ ♪ I was lost, now I'm free. Jesus saved my life. ♪ ♪ I was bound, now I'm free. Walking in the light. ♪ ♪ That's the reason why, that's the reason I. ♪ ♪ Clap my hands, move my feet, get undignified. ♪ ♪ I was lost, now I'm free. Jesus saved my life. ♪ ♪ I was bound, now I'm free. Walking in the light. ♪

♪ That's the reason why, that's the reason I. ♪ ♪ Clap my hands, move my feet, get undignified. ♪ ♪ I was lost, now I'm free. Jesus saved my life. ♪ ♪ I was bound, now I'm free. Walking in the light. ♪ ♪ That's the reason why, that's the reason I. ♪ ♪ Clap my hands, move my feet, get undignified. ♪ ♪ I was lost, now I'm free. Jesus saved my life. ♪ ♪ I was bound, now I'm free. Walking in the light. ♪ ♪ That's the reason why, that's the reason I. ♪ ♪ So ask me why, I worship the way that I do. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to praise your light. ♪ ♪ I know I've got nothing to lose. Cause I've got a reason. ♪ ♪ So ask me why, I worship the way that I do. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to praise your light. ♪ ♪ I know I've got nothing to lose. Cause I've got a reason to. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to. Cause I've got a reason to. ♪ ♪ Cause I've got a reason to. Cause I've got a reason to. ♪ Church, give him a shout of praise. He is worthy of all your praise and glory this morning. We're gonna sing a holy one, a good evening, cause it never misses. He's the God that turns graves into gardens. ♪ I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. ♪ ♪ Lands empty graves, treasures that fade. I'm never enough. ♪ ♪ You came along and put me back together. Now every desire is now satisfied here in your love. Hey. ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing, oh God. Nothing is better than you. ♪ ♪ Oh, I know it's true ♪ ♪ I'm not afraid to show you my weakness ♪ ♪ My failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all ♪ ♪ And you still call me friend ♪ ♪ Cause the God of the mountains ♪ ♪ Is the God of the valleys, yeah ♪

♪ There's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing better than you, Lord, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing better than you, oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Better than you, oh, there's nothing ♪ ♪ Nothing is better than you ♪ Yes, Jesus, there is nothing better than you, Lord. So as we come to you right now, God, we're using it by the prayer team out here. We want you to meet us where we are, God. There are some needs here, you guys know, we like to pray over them as a familia. We are one body, one sound. So you can extend your hand out. If you need prayer, we got these lovely people here to pray with you. What we're gonna pray together is to extend your hand. Jesus, we love you. You're so good. You deserve all the praise and all the worship, God. We honor you, we lift your name, Lord. And we lift some people to you right now, God. We lift up the Carmel family, Lord, as they are experiencing the loss of their matriarch, God, and they serve so faithfully here at the church, God. I just pray that you meet them, that you comfort them, God, that you are close to the brokenhearted, God, and that you are giving them strength in this season, Lord, that you're giving them wisdom, God,

that you are letting her life be a testimony to your goodness and your faithfulness, God. And I pray over Skye right now, Lord, as she was just rushed to the hospital, this little nine-year-old girl, God, who's coughing up blood, God, I just pray that you perform miracles right now, God, that you give them answers right now, God, that you, we know, God, that you can do it, Lord, and so we trust you, God, we know that you are the great physician. So, God, I pray for everybody connected to this church and these people here, God, that are fighting battles in the hospital rooms, God, I pray that you go before them, God, that you go behind them, God, that you are surrounding them right now, Lord, with your peace, your comfort, your healing, God, with the things that only you can do. You are the same today, yesterday, and forever. You are still the God of miracles. You are still the God who can turn graves into gardens. You can still turn dry bones to life. You can still give us beauty in the ashes, God. So I just pray for that right now, God. I pray for your word to be true, God. I pray for us to be open to receive what you have for us. God, we love you. We thank you. Do what you do, Lord.

It's in your holy name we pray. Amen and amen. ♪ You turn mourning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give beauty for ashes ♪ ♪ You turn shame into glory ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn mourning to dancing ♪ ♪ You give beauty for ashes ♪ ♪ You turn shame into glory ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into armies ♪ ♪ You turn seas into highways ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ There's nothing better than you ♪ ♪ There's nothing better than you, Lord ♪ ♪ There's nothing, oh God, nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ Better than you ♪ ♪ Oh there's nothing better than you Lord ♪ ♪ There's nothing better than you Lord ♪ ♪ There's nothing, nothing is better than you ♪ ♪ Than you Lord ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into arching hands ♪ ♪ You turn seas into highways ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You turn graves into gardens ♪ ♪ You turn bones into arching hands ♪

♪ You turn seas into highways ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ You're the only one who can ♪ ♪ Thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ You throw off despair and put a garment of praise on ♪ ♪ I let go of shame and proceed by your hand ♪ ♪ I won't live in the past, you hold my future ♪ ♪ Your kingdom here I'd like ♪ ♪ Everything is changing now, everything is changing now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here, the spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ Miracles are breaking out, your presence is among us now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here, the spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ Up from the ruins comes restoration ♪ ♪ Out of the grave you bring resurrection ♪ ♪ Heaven is coming down, oh this is reviving ♪ ♪ Your kingdom taking ground, everything is changing now ♪ ♪ Everything is changing now, everything is changing now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here, the spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ Miracles are breaking out, your presence is among us now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here, the spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ There's hope and fullness of joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence, in your presence ♪ ♪ And I'm trading mourning for dancing ♪ ♪ And I'm trading sorrow for joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence, in your presence ♪

♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ There's hope and fullness of joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence, in your presence ♪ ♪ And I'm trading mourning for dancing ♪ ♪ And I'm trading sorrow for joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence, in your presence ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ There's hope and fullness of joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence, in your presence ♪ ♪ And I'm trading mourning for dancing ♪ ♪ Dancing in our trade of sorrow for joy ♪ ♪ There's freedom here in your presence ♪ ♪ In your presence everything is changing now ♪ ♪ Everything is changing now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ And miracles will break it down ♪ ♪ Your presence is among us now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ Everything is changing now ♪ ♪ Everything is changing now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ ♪ And miracles will break it down ♪ ♪ Your presence is among us now ♪ ♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪

♪ The spirit of the Lord is here ♪ Amen. Hey church, let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Can we do that this morning? Thank you, Jesus. And you guys sound so good from back there. You really do. I love to stand back there for a while and just watch you worship. That song, I love it. Everything is changing now. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of my 18 year old self, old young Johnny back in the day, right? I was dating my little blonde who's sitting right over there. Dating my little blonde at the time. If you dated her, you had to go to church with her. And I was in a little Baptist church there listening to Reverend Paul Box, who was teaching and preaching. You ever had one of those days where you wonder how the preacher knew you were gonna be there? It was one of those kinds of things. He was talking to me and like three weeks later, I just gave my heart to Jesus. And I can tell you that he changes everything. If you knew me then and you know me now, you'd go, oh, that is a different guy.

And I am so glad he changes everything. I hope you know him like that. He's knowable like that. So let's pray. Father, thank you for today. Thank you, Lord, for who you are. Thank you for Sunday, the day you gather all of your churches, all of your people around the world, Lord. I pray for every church open in the name of Jesus today. God, bless them, fill them with people, fill them with your spirit. Lord, just bless the churches today that are open in your name. Father, we're grateful for who you are. We're grateful that you allow us to worship you. You listen, you hear. Lord, it brings you joy for your people to worship you. Thank you for that, God. It brings us joy as well. I pray for the words, Lord, the message today, God. I say it every time. All I have is words on a page. Lord, would you please multiply it? Would you do the fishes and loaves thing like you did for the little boy? Would you do it for me, God? Would you make something out of this? Because again, all I have is words on a page. All I can do is bring it to the ear.

God, you have to bring it to the heart. So Holy Spirit, do what only you can do in this place today. We love you in Jesus' name. Let's say it together, amen and amen. So good to see you. You can be seated. You can be seated. We're gonna transition into a time of giving right now. And if you're on the left side of the row, I promise you there is a bucket underneath your seat on the left side of the row. If you'll grab that bucket and pass it to your right. And you may say, why do we pass buckets? Well, that's a good question. And here's the answer for me, because I leak, my heart, my head leaks. Sometimes I forget that it is a good thing to give to the Lord. So this is a tangible reminder, whether you give in a different way, whether this isn't your week to give, or whether you're still struggling and praying about giving, that is just a tangible reminder that it is good to give back to the Lord. Several ways you can give, they're on the screen behind me. You can even give as you go. There's offering boxes there as you leave. I love this thought, and I say it just about every time I talk about giving, is this, it's not the amount, it's your heart that matters.

That's what God looks at most, a willing giver, a joyful giver. That's what he wants. So give from a cheerful heart if you're giving today. Well, hey, good morning. My name's Johnny. I am one of the pastors here at the local church. It is a privilege to be with you today. It's a joy to teach today. And I've had several people comment on this local baseball jersey, which I love, by the way. It's got my name and my age on the back there. Everybody laughs about that. I don't know why, but we got, number 26, yes. I don't know if this is gonna be. church merch at some point? I do not know, but I really like it. It works well. It's the only sport I was good at was baseball, so anyway, it's comfortable to wear. We're glad that you're here today. We're in a five-week series, and we're talking about serving. It's called Made for More, Made for More, Improving Your Serve. Here's why we're doing it, because if we want all that God has for us, and I believe we do, you're here today or joining us online. You're home today, but you joined us online. I think you want all that God has for you, and if we want all that God has for us, we have to pay attention to serving. Serving is a big part of the Christian walk. It's a big part of the Christian life, and so we have to learn to do it well. We have to learn to do it in the attitude and the presence of the Lord, and so again, five-week series. The first two weeks Pastor Dan taught, do you remember the first week, talked about the definition of a servant. It was short. The definition of a servant is simple, but it's profound. We serve God by serving others in His name. We serve God by serving others in His name. Short, succinct, profound. Week two talked about, Pastor Dan again talked about the heart of a servant, and I really

liked this one. If you didn't see that, if you weren't here for last week, do yourself a favor and re-watch that. He opened up his heart. Pastor Dan shared his heart and some difficulties he has with serving, but we landed here. We landed on Jesus wants me to be willing to serve every person in my life, even the difficult ones, even the difficult ones, and we're all going to have people that we serve at times that are going to be difficult, so He wants me to be willing to serve every person in my life, even the difficult ones, and those with the servant's heart want to serve the people in their lives. So what are we talking about today? We're going to talk about the attitude of a servant, our attitude. Why is attitude important? I think we know that it is, but I want to help us to understand why it is. Attitude is important in everything, but it's important in serving, because serving will expose you. You're going to find out real fast why you're doing this, real fast. Your attitude is going to be exposed. I love this statement. It's in your notes there. We're going to put it on the screen. Everyone wants to be a servant until they're treated like one. Everybody wants to be a servant. I want to serve God. I want to serve God until we have our first negative experience, and then it's like, I don't know if I want to serve God anymore. It's like everybody wants to be a servant until they're treated like one, and believe me, you'll be treated like one from time to time. So we're going to check ourselves today. Anybody just say, Johnny, look, I'm going to be real honest here. We're in church. I just need an attitude adjustment. Come on. Anybody else? Okay, good. I love that. Honesty before the Lord. So we're going to work on that today. I want to start with this, though. How many of you are raising teenagers right now? I heard a moan go over the room. Hold those hands up. You're raising teenagers right now. Can we just lay hands on these good people and pray for them? That's one of the hardest things. It really is. If you're raising teenagers, that's a difficult season. Tracy and I have two girls, Rachel and Sarah. Good biblical names there, right? Strong biblical names. Rachel and Sarah. They're now grown, wonderful husbands. Five grandchildren we have. By the way, that is the best season of life. Amen, babe? Yes, it is. The best season of life. It is. I wish there was a way to start here, but there's not. You've got to go through it to get to this point. But it's wonderful. But we've had teenage daughters in our house at the same time. Both of them, there's three and a half years difference. They were teenagers

at the same time. We know what it's like to raise teenagers. How many of you know the word, you've heard it, whatever, with a teenage? You ever heard that? Whatever. Well, whatever's not a bad word in and of itself, right? It's benign, but man, it can become saturated with a lot of attitude. And so think back. If Tracy and I were back in the day, and Rachel and Sarah were back in the day as teenagers in our home. Say it's a Saturday morning. It's mid-morning, right? It's 10, 10.30, about the time it is now. Tracy and I are going to go out and run some errands. So I go in the hallway. I know they're up. I've heard them in their rooms. I know they're up. I say, hey, girls, mom and I are going to go out and run some errands. We'll be back in an hour or two. Hey, pick up your room a little bit. Make your bed. Those dishes you all left out last night, put those in the dishwasher. We'll be back in a little bit. Okay, dad, whatever you need. That's a good whatever. Rare whatever, but that's a good whatever. Now, same scenario. What if I say, hey girls, mom and I are gonna run out for a little bit. We're gonna run some errands. We'll be back in just a bit. Hey, pick up your room, make your bed, put those dishes in the dishwasher. You don't hear anything. So you say, did you hear me? Yes, whatever. That's what we call in parenting attitude. And here's why I bring that whole thing up because I am convinced. I know this about me. And I visit with lots of folks about lots of things. So I think I know it about you as well, as humans, as redeemed. Yes, we're redeemed, yes.

But we still got some nature in us that God's still working on, right? There can be in each of us, when it comes to serving God, there can be a teenage attitude. Okay, God, whatever. Okay, I will. If he says, hey, I want you to go visit this person in the hospital. Can I just call? They need to see you. God, I need you to go visit with them, pray with them in person. Okay. One for me is we got lots of people in our neighborhood. We live in a 55 and up. We have lots of people that walk in our neighborhood. And there's one particular neighbor that Tracy and I both love very much. But he can be a guy that makes a five minute conversation last 25 minutes. So he'll be walking his little dog down the street and here he comes and I'm thinking, oh, okay, I need to wrap this up, you know, and head back up. And I'll feel God sometimes say, no, no, no, no, no. Stay there. You, it's like shine some, shine my light on him. He's lonely, talk to him. Shine my love on him. Okay, whatever.

We can have that attitude if we're not careful. That's not a good attitude to have when it comes to serving God. Well, what is a good attitude to have? Well, we're gonna look at it today. We wanna have the attitude of Christ. So that's our goal today is to have the same attitude that Jesus had. Is that possible? It is. Let's look at it. Philippians chapter two, verses three through eight. And before we read it, I wanna tell you about 30 seconds, 60 seconds of history on Philippi. One little interesting thing. I always think about it when I think about the letter to the Philippians there. Philippi was in, of course, a Roman city. It was one of the Roman cities. There were a few that was designated as a retiree place where land would be allotted for retired Roman soldiers. If you lived through 25 years of being a Roman soldier, they would give you a pretty good hefty payout and some land in one of these cities. Philippi was one of those cities. So some of those soldiers would come to Christ. Some of them would believe the gospel. Some of them would become Christians. And when they did, we know they're not perfected. We don't get perfected till we get home.

We've always got stuff to work on. So some of these Roman soldiers would have big egos. You can just imagine. There are a lot of testosterone still left over in these guys. And so how would they go about serving? Well, they can go about it with egos and pride like we can. Let's look at how Paul addresses that. Philippians two, verse three. Let's start reading this. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. The same attitude. There it is. What's our attitude to be? The same attitude that Christ Jesus had. What was that attitude? Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. He was God. He didn't think of equality with God as something to cling to and stay in heaven. He left heaven. Instead, it says he gave up his divine privileges, not his deity. That's important.

He was still God on the earth. He gave up his privileges though. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Think what that would have meant to those Roman soldiers. There were other people in those towns, lots of other people, but I always go back to the Roman soldier. How would he have heard this? A criminal's death on a cross. They would have been involved in probably putting criminals to death. They knew what that was. Jesus did that for me. That had to have hit them hard. So how can we have this same attitude that Christ Jesus had? How can we do that? Well, I'm convinced of this. I think that it's even provable in some ways. I think that every human is born with the capacity to develop compassion and empathy. I think we all have that. Now, of course, early childhood trauma or those kinds of things can distort it. It can mute it. It can destroy it for a while. It has to be rebuilt, all of that.

But we all have, other things being equal, we all have the capacity. to develop compassion and empathy. What we don't have in the natural man is the ability to develop this attitude that Jesus has, to develop an attitude that's like Jesus in serving others. That's not a born thing, that's a born again thing. That's not the natural man, that's the born again man or woman. And so if I'm talking to Christians in the room today, and I think I'm talking to many of you guys, you have this ability. This isn't something, you can't say, oh, well, I can't be like Jesus, Jesus. Paul says we can. Paul says you must have the same attitude that Jesus had when he served. That's the attitude that we need to have as well. So how do we do that? How do we do that? Number one, we're gonna look at three things. Here's number one, and number one, by the way, I'm gonna spend the most time on because, not because it's the most important, but if we get this one, the other two go down much easier. We gotta get this first one. Number one, change your audience. Play to an audience of one. We play to an audience of one.

So silly question, but I wanna know this, and so does your neighbor sitting next to you. How many of you sing in the shower? I'm just kidding, your neighbor doesn't wanna know. Nobody wants to know, but it's a silly question. Why do we sing in the shower? I sing about half the time in the shower, I'll sing. By the way, people who keep track of such things say that about 50 to 70% of Americans sing in the shower. So I do about 50% of the time or so. I got quite the repertoire, by the way, from the goodness of God, amazing grace, all the way to Free Bird, man, you never know. But why do we sing in the shower? Well, we sing because we think we sound good. Even if we can't sing, we sound better in the shower. The acoustics sound pretty good, and it may be the humidity, it either carries the voice or blocks the ears, I don't know which, but we sound better so we sing in the shower. Here's where I'm going with this, audience matters. I'm not gonna sing in front of you. I'm not gonna sing in front of you, I can't sing. Yeah, right, not today, not today. But I'm not gonna sing in front of others, I sing in front of myself. Audience matters, and here's where I'm going with this. For most of us, we're our own primary audience. If we're not careful, we'll serve

whatever benefits us most. I'll sing where I think I sing best. I'll sing to an audience of one, but it'll be me. I'll serve wherever I wanna serve. I'll sing wherever I think I sing best. I'll play to an audience of one, and it'll be me. Or, even worse, I'll sing to an audience of many, and I'll play to people rather than playing to an audience of one and serving the Lord alone. Look at Galatians 1.10. Let's look at how Paul talks about it. Am I trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the servant of Christ. Serving people to please people is not the same thing as serving people to please God, and that will get exposed very, very soon. So, the audience of one isn't me. The audience of one isn't you. Look at Colossians 3.23 and 24. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. There's the audience of one. Not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. I love this phrasing. It is the Lord Christ you are serving, the Lord Christ, the Lord, the anointed one you are serving.

So, let me share something that helps me. Let me share something that helps me with this very real struggle. And by the way, it is a very real struggle for pastors. Pastors have a very real struggle. I know a lot of pastors, we all have this same temptation to serve others, but to play to others. We have a temptation to play to an audience of many rather than playing to an audience of one. We're called to serve other people, but we do it by playing to an audience of one. If we're not careful, I'll serve or I'll play to an audience of many. And here's what that looks like. I'll teach and preach what I think you want to hear rather than what you need to hear. That's playing to an audience of many. And if enough pastors do that and we do that as churches, we're going to aim the church in a way that pleases culture. It will be culturally pleasing, but biblically empty. And we don't want to do that. So, pastors, we have to get this right. But church, we have to get this right. All right, as well, we play to an audience of one. Here's what helps me. Do you remember the book of Exodus? Remember that book? Everybody nod your head, it's the second one. Yeah, Genesis, Exodus. Exodus, when you think of the book of Exodus,

are you like me? I think most of the time, I think of the action sequences, right? I think of Moses. I think of Pharaoh. I think of the plagues. I think of the great Red Sea escape, right? They went through on dry ground. God held the waters back. I think of the action sequence. I think of Charlton Heston. Don't ask me, y'all, young people, who that is. Charlton Heston playing Moses. I think of all of that, but that's eight chapters out of the 40. Eight chapters is the action sequence. Get this, 16 chapters out of the 40. 40% is the building of the tabernacle, the sacred space where God would dwell with his people. By the way, God has always had a sacred anointed place that he dwelt with us. The garden, heaven, tabernacle, the temple. He's always had a sacred space. Now that sacred space is us. Now it's us, but the building of the tabernacle was 16 chapters in the tent of meeting, as it's called. Man, it's so intricate. It's so detailed. All the stitching and the weaving together is so detailed. I mean, it's like they count the stitches in these things.

I mean, it's an incredible amount of detail that goes into it. By the way, if you want to do a cool study, study the stitching and weaving of the tabernacle and the language with the, I am fearfully and wonderfully made in my mother's womb. Did God stitch me together? I am, he wove me together in my mother's womb in the secret place. It's the same thing. God is creating two sacred spaces. And now we are that tabernacle. Now we hold the Holy Spirit. We hold the presence of God within us. But back then it was the tabernacle. But before he talks about the building of the outside, the assembling of it, the disassembling of it, how you build it together, the wood, the gold, the inlay, all of that, before he talks about the outside, he gives instruction for the inside. And that's a pattern, by the way, that holds all the way through the Old Testament and all the way through into the New Testament. That before we're worried about going out here and doing this and being this, we have to be, make sure that we're his here. I wanna say it like, I wanna say it like this. The reason you're not serving an audience of one out there is because you're not worshiping an audience of one in here. That's for somebody today.

The reason you're not serving an audience of one out there is because you're not worshiping an audience of one in here. Those elements for the tabernacle are all still there, but they're inside of you now. With the Holy Spirit that indwells us, that altar, that ark, that bread, that incense, those candles, the light, all of it is still here, but now it's inside of you. So I'm gonna ask you, when is the last time you laid your life down on that altar in your heart? When's the last time you said, no, Lord, not my will, my way, but your will, your way, not my wants, my desires, but your wants and your desires? When's the last time? Or when's the last time we've confessed our sin? The ark had a mercy seat on top of it. You didn't sit on it. It was like a seat of government. It was the headquarters for mercy, so to speak. And once a year, that high priest would sprinkle the blood of the lamb on it for the forgiveness of the sins of Israel. We don't have to wait once a year, y'all. We can go every day and we can confess our sins. When's the last time we've done that? When's the last time you've confessed your sins and allowed the blood of Christ to cleanse you and wash you clean? When's the last time you've eaten of the showbread,

that showbread that would feed the priests? When's the last time you fed yourself on the presence of Christ, on his word? When's the last, you get fed here at church, but do you feed yourself at home? When's the last time? When's the last time that incense, that prayer, when's the last time you've prayed before God? You've emptied out yourself, praying before God, seeking his presence, seeking wisdom, seeking answers for your next steps and things. When's the last time you've done those kinds of things? The reason we're not serving well out there or the reason we're not serving an audience of one out there is because we're not worshiping an audience of one in here. When we do this, then we'll begin to serve an audience of one out there. So the first one, we must change our audience. We have to change our audience and we need to play to an audience of one, playing to an audience of one. Let's look at that. The second one. Again, get that first one down. These next two come easier. Change your priorities. Jesus first, others second, I'm third. Yeah, Jesus first, others second, and I'm third, I'm last. Look at Philippians 2, verse four. We read it before, we're gonna pull it out,

and we're gonna set it down, we're gonna look at it. Philippians 2, four, be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others. Take an interest in others. I do not wanna be abrasive, but I do wanna ask you, when is the last time you took an interest in anybody else? Think about that. There are over 31 and others in Scripture, in the New Testament for believers, 31 and others. We're supposed to be taking an interest in others and helping one another. But I know Broward County gets crowded, man. It can get on 95, not necessarily today, but try it Monday, see what happens. It's like there's 10 million people here, it seems like, and there might be, but there's a lot of people here. What we wanna do is come home, put our car in the garage, close that garage door, and be in our own little world, right? But that's not what God calls us to do. We're supposed to take an interest in others. When is the last time we've done that? And we have to have this attitude. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. This is so cool. In the Greek, the verbs have tenses. There's an active tense and there's a passive tense. Active, this humble is in the active tense.

It's acting upon the subject, which is others. It's not passively being acted upon. Others are not acting upon us, we're acting upon them. So I'm not passively shrinking down. Woe is me, I am nothing, I'm just humble. You know that balloon bouquet you got for Valentine's Day yesterday that's still got the helium in it? It's not gonna look like that next Saturday. It's gonna be like down on the floor, right? Imagine that that's sort of what we think sometimes humble is. I'm just nothing, woe is me. And that's not true. It's not true, you are someone. Christ left heaven. He didn't think of equality with God as something to hold on to, he left that. He gave up his divine privilege, not his deity, but his privilege. He gave up those privileges and he came here and he lived as one of us. And for a while he was popular, but then he started rubbing the religious leaders the wrong way. And then he got into a period of unpopularity, started rubbing people the wrong way. Oh, you mean I need to give all of my heart to you? Yes, rich young ruler, all of those things. He wants everything. And then he started getting into a period of testing

and then he was crucified. He did all of that for us. He did all of that for us. And he now fills us. We're now adopted by him. We're a son and daughter of the King. We are somebody now, you've been adopted, you've been given his name, heaven is your home. So we don't shrink down as we are less than. I'm not less, I just think of myself less and I value you more. It's got the idea of stature. It's active, it's not passive, it's active. I am actively valuing you above me in stature. I'm exalting you above me. I'm concerned about your stuff above my stuff. I want to serve you. When I'm serving people, I'm valuing them above myself. I love that. And here's something else, God is a genius. Do I really need to say that? He's a genius. He gives us built-in ways to value people above ourselves, to work this out. He gives us ways to do it. Look at four of those, marriage, parenting, serving in church, serving in the community. Marriage is a built-in way to actively value someone above us. It's built into the vows.

It's in there, preferring her above all others as long as you both shall live. Preferring him above all others as long as you both shall live. You're either gonna say I will or I do depending on how it's worded. So we take those, listen, we take those vows. It's a built-in way to value somebody over and above ourselves. Tracy and I celebrate in three weeks, 45 years of marriage. Yay. And we don't always get it right, but that is our heart. Our heart is to value the other person above ourselves. If that's your heart, you're not gonna get it right. We're not home yet. We're not perfect. But if that's your heart, you're gonna be okay if that's your heart, to value one another. So marriage, parenting. Let's talk about that. Now I know we mentioned teenagers, but I'm gonna tell you who the real servants are in the room. If you've got toddlers, you don't even have enough, you don't even have the strength to raise your hand if you've got toddlers right now. Toddlers, and even babies, because they set the schedule for you. They tell you when they're gonna eat, because they cry till you feed it. You got to feed them, you got to clothe them, you got to change diapers, you got to dress them, you got to bathe them, you got to get them ready, you got to potty train a human. I mean that is, there's nothing easy about that, but can I tell you this, there's nothing more sacred in the world than that. Moms and dads, by doing that, by doing laundry, by feeding them, by cleaning it, you're doing God's work. You're doing God's work, and you're learning to value somebody over

and above yourself. God puts built-in ways to do this. Serving in church will give you built-in ways to do it right here. I can't think of anything more humble than opening door for people and saying, hey welcome to church, hey happy Sunday, good to see you man, glad you're here. That's just a beautiful thing. We have people that do that. We have people that do it outside, inside, people that will seat you because it gets crowded in here sometimes. We got people right now serving across in local kids. I mean there's, oh thank you. I mean we do, we've got people that love your kids and they teach them about Jesus on their level. We got people that show up on Tuesday evenings and they serve in local youth and then some of them serve in young adults that meet on Thursdays after the Thursday service. We can give you a built-in way to serve right here and serving in the community, I'll just mention this, we'll glide by it, but we give you opportunities to serve in the community as well. The last Saturday of this month is one of those. I mentioned it last week when I was closing out in connection time, but the last Saturday, Love Thy Neighbor in Davie, in Hollywood and in Pembroke Pines, we have organizations that are set, five organizations that are in those three towns there. So wherever you live, we have a way for you to serve. They need your help. Feeding South Florida, Kids in Distress, that's just two of them and then there's three more that you can go on the website, you can go on the church app right now, you can register and show up on that day and serve and value others as higher than you on that day. It's beautiful. Write this in your notes. Life is not about me. I am third. I am third. Tracy and I love watching the Olympics. There's all kinds of winter sports and then there's ice dancing, you know. Is that a sport? Tracy thinks it is. It's a sport, but everybody wants the gold, but look for us, the bronze is the gold. In his kingdom serving, the bronze is the gold. Life's not about me. It's God first, others second, and then I am third. So change your audience. Live to please God and God alone. Change your priorities from I am first to I am third. Here's the third one. Change your focus from my rights to your needs. Let's read it. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, again

you can have it, the same attitude. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. He left heaven. He gave up his divine rights. He took the humble position of a slave. I must give up my rights to serve others effectively. Why? Because my rights and serving others, that's just gonna clash. My flesh wants my rights. My flesh wants what it wants. I want my rights. I've got to give those up. Jesus gave up his divine rights and served us. We need to be able to do that as well. Let's look at a few of these. I give up my time to serve others. That's your first one there. I give up my time to serve others. Time is precious. Time is more valuable even than money. Start small, but start somewhere. We have a neighbor across the street. His name is Jack. Jack, if you some chance you're watching today, God bless you, buddy. Love you. He was gone for four months with his mother, taking care of his mother, and then he's moving her back to South Florida. I got to water his plants, take the mail in, start his cars once a week, just do a roundabout his place, just make sure everything was fine. And it was. That took 30 minutes a week. That's all. 30 minutes a week, but it meant the world to him. Start small, but start somewhere. I give up my priorities to serve others. This one is gonna hurt. Sometimes pickleball has to wait. Sometimes the tea time, golf, sometimes a movie, sometimes whatever you want to do has to wait because what that person needs or how you're serving time, man, it's gonna conflict. I'm gonna give up my rights to serve other people. I give up my energy to serve others. I love this thought. Write this in your notes if you're taking notes there. Scribble it down. Let others make you tired. That's a beautiful Let others make you tired. I mean, there's times when it's gonna take some energy to serve other people. I give up my stuff to serve others. I love this thought too. Write this out in your notes as well. It's not on the screen, it's not in your notes.

Sometimes my neighbor's bread is supposed to come from my table. Sometimes my neighbor's bread is supposed to come from my table. There are times when I have stuff that they need. There's times when I could sell that car seat. Our kids are grown, they're older, and it's still like new. And I could sell it and make 100 bucks or whatever. Or you could give it to somebody that needs it, a single mom that needs a car seat. Or you could donate it to Sheridan House, who has a great single moms ministry. Or Hope Women's Center, who always needs car seats and things like that. That's just, listen, if you need it, if you need to sell it to eat, you need to sell it to feed yourself or clothe yourself or pay your rent, sell it. But if it's just gonna be an extra 100 bucks in your savings, think about who else could use that. Sometimes I can serve others. I give them my stuff to serve others. I give them my money to serve others. This one can always step on toes. But I can tell you that for 45 years, Tracy and I, most of the time we have tithed. That's been a goal for us. We've tithed, we've given 10%, sometimes more. We didn't start out that way. When we were young, we didn't always have

that kind of money. We still don't have that kind of money. But here's the idea, start small, start somewhere. It's not speed, it's direction. God's not looking at how much, he's looking at this. And so a great way to start, you just pray, God, I wanna be more generous, show me how. A great way to start is that acrylic box out in the lobby. We drop dollars in there or change in there. We call it change for a dollar because it can change the life of a family. It can change the life of a single mom, a single parent, single dad. It really can. And we have stories like that where it has. So that makes a difference. I give up my money to serve others. So I change my audience, I change my priorities, and I change my focus. And we're gonna wrap up here. Serving is the key to greatness in the kingdom of God. This is where it all leads. Why do we do this? Why do we serve others? Well, serving is the key to greatness. That's one of the reasons. You wanna be great in the kingdom of God, serve others. You remember the story with James and John and they're walking with Jesus and it's in his period of popularity.

Everybody wants to be like him. Everybody wants to follow him. And James and John are two of the closest, more popularly read, anyways, disciples. And they say, hey, Jesus, when you get to glory, I wanna be on your right and put him on your left. Can we do that? Can we sit on either side of you in glory? How about that? I can just see them buddying up, you know, wanting that position right there. I always used to think, is that arrogant? About 80% of me still thinks that's got a little tinge of arrogance to it, but Jesus didn't rebuke them, he taught them. You wanna be great in the kingdom? Here you go, Mark 10, verses 42 through 45. You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But church, among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and give his life a ransom for many. Again, the key to greatness in the kingdom of God is serving, it's not leadership. There's been 20 billion books in the last 15 years written on leadership in the church.

It's not just leadership. Leadership is great, but it's not leadership. It's not education. Get all the education you can get. If you can't get any, educate yourself. Education is great, but it's not the key to greatness in the kingdom. It's not achievement, it's not all those things. Those things are good. But again, the key to greatness in the kingdom of God is serving. So as we wrap up, where do you need to improve your serve? Where do you need to improve your serve? Is it marriage? Is it parenting? Is it serving here at church? Is it serving in the community? Those four things we talked about, check a box beside one of those. Don't check all of them. Check a box besides one of them. What did God talk to you about today? Oh, I need to be doing more of that. Something clicked with you today. We can all do this. Again, we're believers. We have the Holy Spirit in us. We got Jesus in us. We can serve like him. We can have the attitude like he has.

We can at least work on getting there. Paul tells us we must, so we can. And listen, I wanna talk to the. Folks who may not maybe you're seeking today. Maybe you wouldn't raise your hand. Are you a Christian? You don't know you haven't really gone that route yet, but you're interested and you're seeking Today, maybe something today clicked with you. Maybe today is your day. I had a day like that. I Had a day like that 46 years ago gave my heart to Jesus and never ever have I been the same I Want that for you if you want that for yourself if you want to say today I want to give my heart to Christ. Just say something like this in your in your own heart say dear Jesus. I love you I know you love me. I Believe that you are the Son of God who gave his life on a cross. I Believe you rose from the dead You're alive now. You're in heaven. You're coming back. I Believe you died for me Lord, please come in and fill me Forgive me of my sins cleanse me Lord, and I will serve you from this day forward In Jesus name. Amen, if you prayed that prayer First of all, welcome to the family of God. It's your heart. God's looking at is it's not just the words There's no magical words. It is the heart that he looks upon heaven's rejoicing we want to rejoice too if you Meant that prayer you prayed that prayer fill out that connect card for us. I'll get in touch with you I'll help you to take your next steps in a good and wise way. We'll help you. We'll talk to you about baptism We'll talk to you about connect track just ways to get involved ways to grow in Christ. We won't spam you we won't Stalk you but we'll give you something that can help you to take some next steps when you're ready So do that for us if you would so I want to pray for you I also want to pray for you church all of us in here that needed that attitude adjustment Today who need to serve with an attitude that's more like Jesus that includes me So let me end today with prayer father. Thank you so much. Thank you for today again Lord Thank you for those who gave their heart to you today. I Pray for them Lord grow them up fill them with your spirit. I pray that they grow they have a hunger for you

Lord that they get into your word. They they get into church. They begin to get into a group Lord They just grow they have a hunger and and father I just pray your blessings upon them and I pray for us God who know you we've been walking with you for a while Help us to have attitudes that we should have Help us to serve you in ways God that mean we we serve others by serving you we serve others But we play to an audience of one. That's the only way God we are going to be sustained Through a lifetime of serving you and not wear out Is if we play to an audience of one so help us to do that help us to love others help us to find an interest in other people Help us to be more like Christ this world needs it Lord. We love you in Jesus name. Let's say it together y'all. Amen Hey church, please stand as we continue to worship We introduced a new song last week So if you know it You For too long Silenced by the lies of the enemy But a new song is rising From our mouth we'll sing out a new melody I miss this moment Yeah, we were born for such a time Reaching for a brother We won't let Oh And now I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. We've got no more questions, and we will go in His authority. Jesus exalted His division, and we say yes, we don't apologize. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go.

I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I have decided I will follow Jesus anywhere He leads us, and that's where we will go. I am riding with Jesus wherever He goes, living, surrendering, this life's not old. I am riding with Jesus wherever He goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own. I am riding with Jesus wherever He goes, living, surrendering, this life's not my own. 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, and that's where we will go.