Servanthood

Richard Foster writes, ‘nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like service in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service, but screams at hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition. It will even devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered. If we reFUse to give in to this lust of the flesh, that is when we crucify it. every time we crucify the flesh, we crucify our pride and arrogance.’13
Keep it simple friends... servanthood USE YOUR GIFT TO SERVE OTHERS.

Jesus was always focused on people and this is our example. To keep our hearts yielding to the ways of God and our mission to live In him strong and sure... the GREAT COMMISSION is all about OTHERS.
dying to selfishness is all about a death of the flesh. and all I can say about this is, whenever I feel like one aspect of this in my own life is nailed, wow, there comes another issue to deal with.

Philippians 2:3, ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.’

1 Peter 5:5 instructs us to ‘clothe ourselves with humility toward one another.’ david was what in today’s culture would be a super-celebrity, but in 1 samuel 18, it says that ‘all of Israel and Judah loved david, and he went out and came in with them’. In other words, he was approachable, not arrogant, but humble, serving others, doing life among the people.

HUMBLE YOURSELF before God

James 4:10 says ‘to humble yourselves (feeling very insignificant) in the presence of the lord and he will exalt you (he will lift you up and make your lives signifi-cant).’ (AMP) The Word says ‘he dwells with the humble and lowly in spirit.’ Psalm 138:6 says that ‘God actually distances himself from the haughty.’
and when it comes to worship, it should be the most unselfish thing we do... for him and through him by grace. In other words, emptying ourselves of all we are, and offering our lives again, as a living sacrifice for HIS GLORY.

So, how do we teach this? how do we infuse the value of humility through every- thing our lives represent?
We MODEL humility by our own behaviour, and practice humility through SERVICE.

You cannot preach this if you are not committed to living it. The next generation coming through has little time for inconsistencies between what we say and how we live. My own kids have taught me this as there have been times when, after I’ve taught something to the team, it has been tested in my own life almost immediately and aaahhhh, I failed the test! and that’s what we love about family - no hiding there!!

Truth is premium lovely ones. This is not a show we are putting on called CHURCH. no, we are the hands and feet of Christ representing him and all he stands for in our hurting world.