Latest / In the Stillness Podcast / Greatness Looks Like Serving

Transcript

Greatness Looks Like Serving · In the Stillness Podcast

• 0:00
  What is up, everyone? Happy Sunday.
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  It is friendly. I'm so glad you're here.
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  Whatever you're doing, wherever life finds you.
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  I am so grateful that we get to open God's Word together.
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  And today we're going to be reading from Matthew chapter 20
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  through verses 20 through 28. And this is a passage called
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  Jesus Teaches about Serving Others.
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  But I do want to switch up the format a little bit before we
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  read. I want to set up some context
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  because I think it can really help you as I read this passage
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  over you. So right before this moment,
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  Jesus has foreshadowed his death for the third time.
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  And he is clearly explaining the suffering, the rejection, and
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  the crucifixion that is coming up.
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  But the disciples, they are still so caught up in
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  themselves. We see chapters prior, I think
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  it's in chapter 18, that they are arguing over their positions
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  and their future status and ultimately what they'll gain in
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  the Kingdom. And The thing is, they're
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  physically close to Jesus in this moment, but they're missing
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  what he's trying to teach them. So with that in mind, I want to
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  go into the passage that we're going to read today and just
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  listen as I read these words over you.
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  We're starting in verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's
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  sons came to Jesus with her sons and kneeling down, asked a favor
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  of him. What is it you want?
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  He asked. She said.
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  Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right
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  and the other at your left in your Kingdom.
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  You don't know what you're asking, Jesus said to them.
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  Can you drink the cup? I'm going to drink?
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  We can't, they answered. Jesus said to them, You will
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  indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not
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  for me to grant. These places belong to those for
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  whom they have been prepared by my Father.
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  When the 10 heard about this, they were indignant with the two
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  brothers. Jesus called them together and
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  said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over
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  them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
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  Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become
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  great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be
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  first must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not
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  come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom
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  for many. OK, so after reading this it
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  really stood out to me how possible it is to walk closely
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  with Jesus to hear his words. Here we are reading the very God
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  breathed scriptures, but it's possible to still miss the heart
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  of his message when our focus is inward and on ourselves.
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  And truthfully, I do not want that for myself or for us today.
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  So before we go any further, I want to pause and pray in the
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  beginning of this podcast instead of at the end and just
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  ask the Lord to help us not miss what He wants to show us.
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  So Lord, we come before you this morning.
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  We ask that you would not let us miss what you want to teach us
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  today. Would you open up our eyes that
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  they may see what You want to show us?
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  Open up our ears, tune them into your frequency, Holy Spirit,
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  what you want us to hear? Would you soften and open up our
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  hearts so that they are receptive to Your truth?
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  We want to learn from You. We want to be challenged and we
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  want to be changed. We ask this all in Your name,
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  Jesus, Amen. OK, so going into this story,
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  it's centered around the sons of Zebedee.
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  This is James and John, and they are the second pair of brothers
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  that Jesus calls while they're fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
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  This is in the very beginning of Matthew, and we see here that
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  their mother is approaching Jesus and she is making a very
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  bold request on their behalf. She's asking that her sons can
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  be seated in the Lord's Kingdom at his right and his left.
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  But something interesting that I actually learned yesterday while
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  studying these commentaries. My dad has these huge books, and
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  I've always been so intimidated by them.
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  But I was snowed in and I thought, you know what, We're
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  going to crack them open. But I learned something so
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  applicable for today. A lot of scholars believe that
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  James and John's mother was present at the cross during
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  Jesus crucifixion. One of the few women there, and
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  she might have even been Mary's sister.
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  So if that's true, this request could have been influenced by a
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  close family connection. But I want us to notice her
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  posture. She's kneeling before Jesus and
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  typically a posture kneeling. A kneeling posture is usually
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  humble. It's reverent and is seen as
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  worship. But this raises an important
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  question. What were her motives?
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  Because her posture it looked right but her request was very
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  self focused. And as I was reading this story,
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  God brought to mind James 4/2 through three, which I will
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  clarify that this is not the same James writing this verse as
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  it is in this story. But he says you do not have
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  because you do not ask God. And when you ask, you do not
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  receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend
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  what you get on your pleasures. So with that verse in mind, this
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  passage, it's inviting us to examine our own hearts.
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  Y'all, what is at the root of our worship?
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  Are we kneeling before Jesus because we simply adore him, or
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  is it only because we want something from him?
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  Do we go to church? Do we pray, practice these
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  spiritual disciplines when it's convenient for us, or when we
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  need healing or a special favor or breakthrough?
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  Because true genuine worship, it adores Jesus for who he is and
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  for what he's already done. Now I want to be clear,
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  Scripture does not discourage us from bringing our request to
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  God. He actually invites us to.
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  We see this all throughout the Bible.
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  But a verse that the Lord brought to me was Philippians
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  4/6 through seven that says in every situation by prayer and
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  petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God.
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  Y'all, God loves to bless his children.
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  We know this. But here's the question I want
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  us to consider. If God never answered another
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  prayer of yours, would he still be worthy of your praise?
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  Would your worship reflect that he has already done more than
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  enough? It's an intense question, but
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  it's one that we need to sit with.
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  And so in this passage, Jesus responds to James and John by
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  talking about the cup. In this cup, it's representing
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  his coming suffering and crucifixion that he's going to
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  endure. They say they can drink it, but
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  they do not yet understand the weight of what they're asking.
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  And James, he would later be martyred and killed for his
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  faith. John was exiled.
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  So no doubt about it, they both suffered deeply for Jesus, but
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  neither could endure what Christ would bear on behalf of all of
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  us. So this part really challenged,
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  challenged me personally. I had to ask myself, OK, how
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  many times have I asked God for something and in that moment
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  maybe gotten frustrated or really challenged him?
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  Like why are you not giving this to me right now?
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  Why am I having to wait if I feel ready or if I feel like
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  this is a good request or desire?
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  But here's the thing, sometimes we don't realize that we don't
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  fully understand what we're asking for because only God can
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  see what's ahead. The preparation that needs to
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  happen in US first, What pain or danger might come with that
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  answered prayer, or possibly how a delay is actually protecting
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  us. I truly believe this saying that
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  I'm about to give to y'all. It's kind of cliche, but I stand
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  by it because I just think it is amazing.
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  God's rejection is God's redirection.
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  So closed doors, waiting seasons, they're not meant to
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  hurt you. They might be meant to refine
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  you, but they're for your good. God desires your long term
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  flourishing, not just instant gratification.
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  So this made me think back personally to relationships in
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  my own life that maybe did not work out and at the time,
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  surrendering my will to God. It was really hard.
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  It was painful in the moment. It wasn't necessarily what I
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  wanted right then. But as I look back, I can
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  confidently say that obedience was worth it laying down what I
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  wanted. It was just what I needed.
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  And I would not be where I am in my faith or my relationship with
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  God if I had chosen my own way instead of choosing His.
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  And Jesus models surrender perfectly.
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  He lives fully submitted to His Father's will.
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  He's under his authority. He's obedient to His Father,
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  even unto death. So may we imitate His example in
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  everything, guys, This passage, it also reveals something
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  superhuman, selfish ambition. And we see so many verses all
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  throughout Scripture warning us from it.
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  But then we see right here, the disciples, like I touched on in
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  the beginning, they're so focused on their own image and
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  status, what they could gain, that they miss out on Jesus and
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  what he's trying to tell them right then.
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  And Jesus flips everything upside down when he's teaching
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  them, because in God's Kingdom, the greatest is the servant of
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  all. Authority does not come from
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  status or a special privilege. It comes from serving God and
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  the people all around you. So this gives us a completely
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  new perspective because we're called to be servant leaders, to
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  be people who do not put ourselves on a pedestal or above
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  anyone, to be people who honor and celebrate those around us
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  who don't wait to be asked to do something but are actually eager
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  to serve and jump on it. And Jesus, as he's embodying
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  this, it is just so profound. So instead of asking, what can I
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  get? Why don't we flip that and say
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  how can I bless or how can I give today?
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  So just a challenge and a prayer that I would love for y'all to
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  keep in mind. It's something I have been
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  trying to be more consistent about.
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  Praying every day is wherever you go, whenever you walk into a
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  room, whether it's your home, your workplace, a coffee shop, a
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  gym, anywhere. Ask God to show you ways that
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  you can serve instead of being so focused on what you can get
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  out of something or someone. Because to look more like Jesus,
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  to be made more into his image, this takes going out of our ways
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  to serve. This is the kind of love that
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  stands out because it's countercultural.
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  It's not what everybody does in this world.
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  And through these actions and how we live as a servant leader,
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  it draws people to him because it's so unlike the world.
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  It's so supernatural, like there is no good in US apart from
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  Jesus, so we can only give Him the credit whenever we are able
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  to be servant leaders. So I want to close today by
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  reading a special passage of scripture that I came across
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  yesterday morning. It's first Thessalonians 3,
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  verses 12 through 13 in the Passion translation.
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  So I pray it blesses y'all, and may the Lord increase your love
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  until it overflows toward one another and for all people, just
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  as our love overflows toward you.
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  Then your hearts will be strengthened in holiness so that
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  you may be flawless and pure before God our Father when our
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  Lord Jesus appears again with all his holy ones.
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  OK, well I loved getting to talk through all this today, guys.
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  I pray that the Lord ministers to your heart and that y'all
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  have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.
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  I'll see y'all in the next episode.