"Servant or Volunteer" ~ Pastor Quentin Q Byrd

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah welcome to the house of the lord god is truly good has he done anything wonderful in your life hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] we want to see you jesus [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Applause] [Music] [Music] my open the eyes of my heart [Music] i wanna see [Music] [Music] [Music] shining in the light of your glory [Music] to see [Music] foreign [Music] open the eyes of my heart [Music] oh [Music] i wanna see you [Music] foreign hallelujah we want open the eyes [Music] my open the eyes [Music] i wanna [Music] foreign [Music] in the light of your glory as we sing we we want to see oh hallelujah hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] i woke up this morning with [Music] if you just came from where i came from i took my life in california hallelujah jesus i saw so many hopeless people but i thank god i just started praying and said lord [Music] highly real you just start praying and praying and praising god hallelujah i'm not praising god for expecting hallelujah [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] but lord god [Music] but i thank god for being a mind keeper this morning hallelujah jesus so i couldn't sit down on god this morning hallelujah [Music] [Music] but you gotta have a praise on your lips praise him before it comes praise him through whatever you're going through don't complain about it praise him and thank god for it to make you better god bless you hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] see the angels are sin and they descending yet they're saying holy holy talking about a true and living god that'll step into your situation right on time [Music] we thank you [Music] we worship you lord we give you all the glory and the honor [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] god [Music] glory boy [Music] we were lord we worship you say god almighty [Music] we thank you for your blessings [Music] god [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] can you lift your hands in this place in honor and in worship to the lord our hallelujah [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Music] you only [Music] you only [Music] only you can deliver [Music] you only [Music] only you only [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on if you know that he's worthy to be praised come on if you know that he deserves all of our worship all of our praise he is a great god and the bible says greatly to be praised come on don't fool me if you know that he's a amazing god if you know that it was only god hallelujah [Music] you know there is a there is a prophet in the bible by the name of elisha and there's a there's a particular account when elisha came in contact with this widow woman and there were these debt collectors that had come to her house and they said listen your husband has died and your husband owed us this money and because you don't have it to pay we're gonna take your sons and we're gonna put them into slavery and the bible says that this woman of faith went to the man of god and the man of god said i want you to get every jar in your house and i want you to get every jar in your neighbor's house and your friend's house but here's what i want you to do he said i want you to take those jars and i want you to go home and i want you to feel them but hang on because i want you to see something in her mind she thought that what she had wasn't enough [Music] some of y'all got it here it is again she thought that what she had wasn't enough but the bible says that she took those jars home and and she began to feel those jars and and here is the shout that as long as she had room god was pouring out a blessing hallelujah as long as she had an empty charm there was something that god was putting in that jar i don't know how many empty jars do we have in here this morning i don't i don't know who you are but i want to share with you that if you make room and here is how you make room lay aside every weight that so easily beset us that problem you brought in here that's all right lay it aside and make room for god that situation you're dealing with that's okay lay it aside and make room for god that report that the doctor gave you that that feel that the collector called you on that's all right today we've come in this place to lay all of those things aside that we might make room listen right where you are right where you are whether you're worshiping with us in the sanctuary perhaps you may be worshiping with us online i just want you to make room however however you do hey can i tell you another great way to make room you can make room with your hallelujah you can make room with your thank you jesus you can make room with your lord you are worthy you can make room by simply saying god we thank you god we thank you selena talked about somebody and people that she saw being homeless listen things might not be as well as we want them to be but god we thank you that things as well as they are god we thank you because we understand that it could be a whole lot worse than what it is god we thank you we thank you not only for our sunshine but god we thank you for our reign because i understand that things grow in the rain god we bless you god we thank you [Music] hallelujah on our premise [Music] on our prayer list hey here's another reason you want to say thank you because your name is not on this list we're going to believe god by faith for every person that i'm getting ready to call out but but somebody ought to get excited that your name didn't make the list there's some list that i want to be on but then there's some other listing that if i don't have to be on i prefer not to be on somebody ought to give god some praise that your name didn't make we want to continue to lift in prayer mother thelma peter one of our mothers here at the church believing god by faith for her we want to continue to lift up sister angelina love johnson we want to pray for sister denise barnes will you pray for brother chester williams for sister uh willie may davenport will you pray for baby kingston will you pray for sister levi parish for brother clarence felder will you pray for julius and vivian durant will you continue to pray for sister viney turner will you also pray for brother stephano parker for jackie felder for jamaila dukes for may everett for clara lee for charles armstead for chantel little will you pray for destiny edwards will you certainly continue to lift in prayer the family of jeffrey moore and the family of reginald smith i also understand that there's a death in the family of evangelist webster uh will you continue to lift that family in prayer listen right where you are before i begin to pray i want to encourage you to pray listen with the fruit of your lips softly softly with the fruit of your lips just begin to to offer a prayer unto god [Music] come on you can pray fill the atmosphere with not only prayers of petition but prayers of praise [Music] come on feel the atmosphere fill this house with prayers unto the true and living god fill this house with prayers because we understand that it was nobody but the lord who moved when we needed in the move who made ways when it seemingly was no way it was nobody but the lord who did exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ever ask think or imagine come on and lift up prayers of petition but lift up prayers of praise telling god thank you [Music] telling him lord we love you telling him god we adore you you are a great god and you are greatly to be praised [Music] in the midst of all that we're going through we worship you on our good days we praise you on our bad days we praise you when things are going our way we praise you but when things are also not going the way that we would like for them to go but god we still praise you god we worship you god we worship you god we worship you god we worship you god we worship you god we worship you god we worship you [Music] god we worship you god we worship [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] this [Music] father you are here in this place god we worship you god we thank you for being here right now [Music] we thank you that we can feel you in this place we thank you that your spirit is moving god we thank you that your power is flowing [Music] god we thank you that your blood is covering god you're healing in this place you're delivering in this place is setting captives free in this place and god we worship you in this place [Music] god have your way in this place [Music] whatever you desire to do oh god have your way every name on our prayer list we lift them to you right now god [Music] those who are sick we pray that healing would be upon their bodies right now others are suffering with mental illness and [Music] facing challenges of all manner but god you know exactly what they stand in need of [Music] so god we pray that you would meet them right now where they are [Music] then god they're those who are suffering the loss of loved ones [Music] god we can shout this morning because for those who are in you [Music] we don't weep as those with no hope [Music] god we pray that those that have been called by you they would find rest in the safety of your arms [Music] holy spirit have your way we worship you [Music] god we worship area of hurt god we give it to you every area of pain god we give it to you all of our uncertainties god we give them to you all of our questions god [Music] we give them to you good days god we give them to you bad days god we give them to you god we worship you only you are worthy only you are righteous [Music] only you are a holy god god we ask now that you would receive our worship [Music] receive our praise [Music] god continue to bless us with your spirit god we honor you and we thank you god we count all things done [Music] because you said that whatever we ask in the name of jesus god your word says that it shall be done [Music] and father we hold you on your word this morning because you also said that your words shall go forth and it shall accomplish everything that you sent it forth to do thank you for the word thank you that we have the power and the ability to stand on the word [Music] and the confidence in knowing that the word is worthy to be praised god we on and we bless you we say thank you this is our prayer that we lift in jesus name and for a sake we pray somebody say amen come on and give god a shout of praise come on if you feel just a little bit better come on if you feel just a little bit better come on i believe that about five of y'all to get up out of your seat if you feel just a little bit better come on all over this place lift the sound of worship and lift the sound of praise [Music] [Music] you only you [Music] you only you hallelujah hallelujah [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Applause] hallelujah to all of you my brothers and sisters in christ and creation [Music] what an honor it is to greet you and to share this lord stay with you the bible says that this is the day that the lord has made amen it doesn't ask a question but it gives us a command that we ought to rejoice and be glad in it amen these are not sad tears these are rejoicing tears as i think about the goodness of the lord and all that god has done for me listen to all of you who's worshiping with us in the sanctuary we greet you to those of you who are worshiping with us literally from around the world online we thank god for each and every one of you and to all of our guests on behalf of my wife the entire leadership here at the free will church and the entire free will church family we thank god we understand that you literally could worship anywhere we counted both the privilege and the pleasure that you have chosen to worship with us here hey free will will you do me a favor and help me thank god for all of our guests that are worshipping with us we have some here amen miss annette god bless you worshiping with us here in the sanctuary as guests amen as well as online amen we counted again a privilege an honor and a pleasure and we thank god for you worshiping with us listen we're getting ready to go uh and get out of the way because i believe that the lord has a word for us on today and we want to amen give our speaker time to share with us what it is that i believe god has poured and sheared into his heart worship ministry you all come on and get back in place as they're coming i want to remind you of two things or one make you aware uh mark your calendars for monday october the 11th monday october the 11th right here at free will we're going to be partnering once again we did it last year and we're excited to partner with them again this year the montgomery police department as they celebrate national faith in blue weekend we will have once again a critical conversation around policing here in the capital city we will have with us the interim chief the interim montgomery police chief chief harris she will be here with us we will have the montgomery district attorney here with us and a host of other individuals i'm really excited because we are in the process of finalizing a medical psychologist a psychiatrist that will join us that will talk about the mental impact of policing not only those who are being policed but those who are policing as well while it will not be open to the public i want you to mark your calendars because we will be airing it live on that monday night at 6 00 p.m but if you have questions for the chief questions for the d.a questions we're going to have city council representation here as well if you have questions you can submit those questions by emailing us at info freewheelmbc.org that's info at freewillmbc.org we will take all of your questions and make sure that we pose them to the panel on that night but listen i want to ask that you would in advance be praying with us and praying for us amen as we are believing god to do great things in and around our city is that all right amen amen and listen one last thing i want to share with you i am excited and i want to say thank you so much uh to this incredible ushers ministry uh they will once again this year uh lead us in our church anniversary come on and give god some praise for them y'all ought to be able to do just a little bit better than that come on amen amen this is an incredible group of individuals led by sister diane sanders they will be uh sharing more information in the weeks ahead about this year's 56th church anniversary uh we're going to celebrate on the first sunday in december amen and just thank god for 56 incredible years but amen somebody thank god because there's yet more to come and we are excited about that listen they're going to place on the screen our giving graphic this is a graphic that you all have seen and you all know well let me say thank you to all of you who give and who sow seeds into this ministry i want you to know that we don't take it for granted and we don't take it lightly but we take very seriously the fact that amen you have heard from god and that each week or however often you give you bless us through sowing seeds into this ministry hey i also want to let you know that we are believing god by faith that you are sowing into good ground amen somebody we are believing god that god produces harvest of your seeds allowing us to bless not only those in the house but listen i am so excited because we have been and we continue to be a blessing to those outside of the house how many all know god did not call free will to do ministry behind four walls [Music] amen somebody so listen for all of these 56 years and in all of the years to come we will continue to be the hands and feet of jesus by going outside of these walls amen to tell a dying world that we serve a god who has all power in the palm of his hand but listen we need your help to do that and so listen if you have never sown into this ministry or perhaps you've not sown into this ministry in quite some time i pray that you would be in prayer and seek god and ask god amen to allow you to sow into this ministry trusting that god would take your seed bless your seed and give you a man a harvest you can give like i said are like the the graphic says you can text to give uh the church phone number take the word tithe or text the word give uh you can give through the giveaway app you can give through cash app or if you want to give through cash to check we have our giving receptacles here in the sanctuary and two outside you hear me say this every week and listen i want to say it again no matter what you give and no matter how you give we pray and we trust that god would bless your gift multiply your gift and do exactly as the bible says amen give back unto you so much that you will not have room enough to receive it worship ministry y'all come on and we're going to come back after that i'm going to introduce our speaker and we'll hear a word from the lord [Music] hallelujah no matter what's going on the lord wants you to rejoice in him hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] don't be afraid [Music] don't wait too late [Music] today [Music] is is [Music] [Music] right [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] right [Music] it's okay to serve the lord no matter who's calling on his name it's okay to agree and say [Music] hallelujah oh me [Music] right me hallelujah amen amen amen will you help me give god some praise amen for our vocal and our instrumental worship ministry we thank god amen for the service that they give unto god through the free will church hey let me just say this real quickly to someone who may be watching i am convinced that you should be in the church i am convinced that you should be in this place and i'm looking forward to the day when we will all be able to amen be able to worship and join together amen but until then i want to encourage somebody out there amen who's viewing us to register this afternoon at five o'clock i want to encourage all of you to continue registering at 5 p.m just text the word register to the church phone number because we would love for you to come into the building and worship with us amen doing what the bible says forsaking not the assembling amen somebody of the believers well listen i'm excited uh because for the past few weeks we have been uh and what i pray you have uh felt an experience to be an incredible series uh titled get your hood together amen we the first two weeks talked about manhood and i think god blessed us in a tremendous ways we talked about that on last week we turned the corner and talked about womanhood i was so blessed to have my better half my wife join me amen as we shared on last week [Music] amen and this week uh the next part of getting our hood together is focusing on servanthood and so listen i am excited because i knew this god gave me this series that it was never intended for me to try to teach it by myself but really to have the opportunity to invite uh what i believe to be anointed voices to come and share with us and so on today uh he is no stranger to us uh he and his family left but they've been back now uh for a few months and i'll tell you one of the reasons that i believe god led me to ask him uh to share with us because prior to them coming back uh one of the very first calls that i received from him was a call that said listen i'm ready to come back but not only am i ready to come back i'm ready to jump right in and serve i thought somebody would have got excited about that so free will listen i'm excited because after the video bumper i'm going to ask that you would help me receive amen he's shared with us not only on the prayer call he shared with us not only in opening up in worship but now that they're back he will share with us today uh i believe a word from the lord so after the video bumper if you would stand to your feet and receive minister glenn thompson amen as he shares a word from the lord [Music] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] as pastor stated that we are we have been in this series [Music] called get your hood together and pastor byrd has he just gave a quick recap he shared with me the concept of this series and then he asked me if i would pray about it if i would if the lord led me to be a part of it and not just sit and receive and i prayed and the lord challenged me and he said well glenn what are you coming to me for because i've already given you your instructions prior to him asking you so if you're coming to me for me to tell you something other than what i've already told you i'm going to disappoint you son because it's time for you to step up and fulfill the instructions that i've given you so with that being said i'm going to ask first of all that if you would join me in prayer before we go any further into this message father we thank you right now for this time this day this opportunity this moment that through the leading of the holy spirit is so pregnant with possibilities father i tell you thank you because all the promises that you've made and you've given to us your children now father i pray right now through the leading of the holy spirit that the promises that you've given us you will allow us to have access to them by denying ourself denying what's going on in our life denying what's going on in our mind denying what's going on in our bodies and as we have been instructed to cast our cares upon you so father we pray we access right now in the name of jesus for every person that's in this house as well as those that are streaming and if you are in agreement with me let every heart save amen hallelujah hallelujah with that being said i promise you i shall not be before you long this morning but i'm going to ask you if you have your bibles that you will turn with me to the gospel according to luke [Music] and we want to look at the 17th chapter now the passage that i'm about to read into your hearing may not be as familiar as a few verses that are up above it we love to quote that verse those verses that are up above it but here where we're about to go this morning as we deal with servanthood this is where the rubber meets the road amen so in luke 17 we want to look at verse seven and uh tech team you go ahead and get that up on the screen for those who may not have a bible in your hands or have one readily accessible and we're gonna start in verse seven and it simply says suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field come along now and sit down to eat won't he rather say prepare my supper get yourself ready and wait on me while i eat and drink after that you may eat and drink will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do so you also when you have done everything you were told to do should say we are unworthy servants we have only done our duty god bless your heart you may be seated now i pray that i'm gonna ask you as i always do one if you have your bibles keep them open so you can check what i'm saying against the scripture because i don't want you to be mad with me because you think it's something that i made up i'm gonna let you work that issue out that you may have with the lord thy god amen so i'll start here my brothers and sisters we live in a me first culture a culture that encourages us to think of ourselves first and others every now and then we're told to focus on our self-image to be involved in self-actualization to be self-reliant there's even an entire magazine called self just in case we start thinking too much of others and need help getting the focus back on ourselves now i'm going to tell you right now this morning i did not come to shout you i came to out you let me back up i don't want anyone to take offense i didn't come to shout us i came to out us amen i'll come back another time if pastor byrd allows me to and will shout then but this moment i come to give you some instructions from the lord so i will be instructing according to the holy spirit see i've already gotten a little too loud because i said i was going to stay in this charles stanley position and i was going to talk to you from this position so i'm already getting a little too hyped but but but but brothers and sisters i i need you to understand that that that because we're saturated with these messages about self it's easy to bring the mentality to church it's easy to bring that mentality of self to church and not only do we bring it to church but we'll expect the congregation to cater to us and then we'll treat god like a genie whose only purpose is to meet our needs in his book called the ministry playbook henry klopp writes and listen to what i'm about to say closely my brothers and sisters he says many christians believe the way to evaluate the health and effectiveness of the church is by figuring out the degree to which the church meets their own individual needs in other words he's saying most of us choose a church by what the church can do for us we don't choose a church after hearing from the holy spirit and then choosing a church where we can come in and sow into that ministry so into the lives of the people around we come in already expecting what can you do for me what have you done for me lately and if you haven't done anything for me lately well i'm already looking for a church across town i'm already looking for the next big thing i'm already looking at another past i'm already going to this church here but i'm sending my money into this conference over i'm not sowing anything into the house where i'm at because i have a mean mentality i expect god to do what i need him to do we treat god like a cosmic bellhop we call him when we need him but when we feel like we got everything under control we quickly say no lord i got this one i i'll handle this one but that's not how god works this morning as we continue in this series and get how to get your hood together i want to teach not preach this morning but i want to teach on servanthood i want to teach on servanthood did you know the word servant in one form or another is used in the bible over a thousand times that means that lets us know brothers and sisters that it's a very big deal to god and it should be a very big deal to us it's a very big deal to god so as i walk you through this message i want to challenge you this morning and here is the title for this message are you a servant or a volunteer servant or volunteer as i stated the word servant is in the bible over a thousand times and again that lets us know that again like i stated that's important to god and if we're going to be followers of christ it should be important to us in numbers the 12th chapter the seventh verse and you can write these down because i'm going to be giving you some verses and they will not be popping up on the screen and that is not due to the inability of the tech arts ministry that is due to the fact that the lord was still dealing with me in this in this message until this morning less than about an hour and a half ago so so in numbers 12 and 7 god refers to moses with these words my servant moses he is faithful in all my house abraham david and job are called my servant by god and when paul james peter and jude introduced themselves in their letters the first thing they did was to identify themselves as servants my question for you this morning is this are you a servant or a volunteer because there's a world of difference between the two tech team go ahead and give me the first word for the definition up there please a volunteer picks and chooses when and even whether they will serve in other words a volunteer has the final decision if i'm going to serve if i'm going to get involved in this are you with me a servant let's get that graphic up on the screen a servant on the other hand serves no matter what a volunteer serves when it's convenient a servant serves out of commitment paul tells us in first corinthians the sixth chapter starting at the 19th verse going on to the 20th verse he says you are not your own you were bought with a price therefore honor god with your bodies he's saying at the end of the day we are simply servants and we will see that in itself is a tremendous honor amen so let's look at a few things about the role of a servant first of all and here is my first point my first point this morning is this there is work to be done there is work to be done let's look at verse 7 of luke 17 that was read into your hearing says suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field come along now and sit down and eat jesus right there is posing a rhetorical question he's posing a rhetorical question now get what i'm about to say to his disciples now when you hear the word disciples don't get it confused because if he's posing a question to his disciples he's not talking about them he's talking about us the ones who say we are followers of christ amen so he poses this question is this this rhetorical question and and in this passage that was read into your hearing noticed something apparently this man does not have many servants because if you notice jesus starts off when he says suppose one of you has a servant no s on the end there but then you go on down and you look at what all that servant was asked to do he has a servant the servant that we read he has to do it all i i i i made the mistake once of telling my supervisor something and i told that that came back to hurt me in the end i told him was that's not my job he informed me that my job was to do whatever i was told to do see there it is see that that was a case for being a servant he he he may have been told to feed the cattle he in the text he he may have been told to plow the field he may have been told to plant the seed he may be have told he may have been told to reap the harvest to clean the house to cook the food to set the table serve the master his meal but whatever the master wanted the servant had to comply he had no other option now i i can tell like i i tried to prepare you in the beginning this is not a shout message this is an out message because the lord's saying there's some things that's in my people glenn i want to use you to get it out of them there are some places that my people have found themselves doing some things and i want to get them out of those places so so so i don't expect you to get happy i don't expect you to shout but do i do expect you to write down some things i do expect you to apply what the scripture says i do expect you to do these things and watch the manifestation take place in your life because what you will notice is this as pastor byrd stated last week that as a kingdom man and as a kingdom woman when we get the servanthood part together then those positions begin to manifest themselves in our life in a whole new way amen so so so so after the servant has been given these instructions he does not have an option and people of god servants of christ we have got to realize that we have no option other than to serve our master one theologian by the name of spirits zodiacs said it this way servant speaks of one who is deprived of his personal freedom and so becomes fully an instrument in the hands of his master he is one who can never say no to his master people of god there is so much work to do so much work to do so much work to do and so for so few people who are willing to do it i say that again there's a lot of work to be done but there's no one wanting willing to do it everyone want to be a cookie but nobody want to get in the oven the scripture says the harvest is plentiful but the laborers somebody didn't read it before it's so much work to be done but so few people are willing to do it some people said it like this that 10 of the people do 100 of the work but now we've gotten a little better whereas 20 percent of the people do 80 of the work and there is work in the church that needs to be done there is work in the kingdom my brothers and sisters that needs to be done my question is to you this morning will you submit to your master and get to work will you submit to your master and get to work here's my second point of the four that i have for you now is not the time for idleness now is not the time for idleness looking back in the text here you see that the servant is tired nasty now you don't see the nasty in there but i'm going to point it out to you from something that he instructs the servant to do he has been plowing hard in the field he's been feeding the cattle no doubt there were other attacks on his agenda that day he may have come in thinking that the work was over and it was time to eat and relax himself but if that's what he was thinking he was wrong because the master said not so fast big boy i need you to get in there and roast me up some villains tonight i need to eat the servant moves get this now the servant moves from outdoors to indoors from day to evening from hard labor to home life he goes from fixing food he goes from the fields to fixing foods now don't miss this truth that i'm about to share with you here because a servant serves whenever wherever for whomever doing whatever it takes see that's why some people want to be volunteers you don't want to be held accountable to that type of standards i'll say it again servants a servant serves whenever wherever whomever and whatever it takes there are many servants of christ who have shifted out of high gear and are in neutral right now i know that because some of them are sitting right up in here looking at me right now some of you have served fervently in the past and now you are burned out and and wounded as a result of and as a result you have quit serving some of you have some of us have sin in our life and it's hindering our service to the lord some of us grew tired and worried and took some time to rest and we never got back into the fight some of us have reached an age where we feel like you have served your time and you aren't going to do anymore there are many different causes but for whatever reason many are now idle in the service to the master john the fourth chapter and the 35th verse says say not ye there are not there are yet four months and then comes the harvest behold i say to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest he's of in other words he's saying you're quitting now but the work hasn't even begun look at the condition that this world is in right now i am a firm believer that we would not be sitting in here right now with masks on our face scared to get in contact with one another if we as the church had been obedient and doing what the lord had called us to do oh i know it's going to get tight there it's tight but it's right because here it is here it is here it is the lord will do what he needs to do to get the attention of his people the lord will do what he's going to do not only to get our attention but to bring us back now here it is where we separate being a servant to a volunteer you go to work you'll get in work early you will stay late but when it comes time to do something for the house because you didn't gave so much to that part of your life you weary when you come in here you don't want to be bothered with no one when it comes when it comes to doing work for the house the pastor can't ask you to do anything you got all these i'm sorry we got all these excuses do you see where i'm going so therefore that means that we as the church have not been in the position that we needed to be in to keep something like this from happening and now we're paying the price my grandmother used to say it like this and i'm certain that some of you all can relate a hard [Music] head so i can't speak for everybody but i know one or two of you all will join me and say i'm tired of wearing masks i'm tired of wearing a mask everywhere i'm tired of not being able to shake my brother's hands and hug my sisters in the house i'm tired that we have allowed the enemy because of our lack of being servants to come in and break up the very thing that the bible tells us to do to not forsake the gathering and the coming together of life so here we are separated [Applause] separated so so he says the time has come for the harvest lift up your eyes he's saying the time to serve is now i challenged some of the brothers last week a week before last in in in the kingdom men rising uh group i said think about something for a second how would we feel if we knew for certain beyond the shadow of a doubt the reason that our families are dealing with this pandemic is because we were not in place because i saw a graphic just the other day and it said that 93 of the families that are saved got saved after the father or the husband got saved in that family 93 so then you begin to think about the men that are not in position then that lets you know then you begin to think about how many families that are not in position how many wives are not in position how many sons and daughters are not in position because the husband and the father is not where he's supposed to be we have not humbled ourselves and said lord i'm not going to be a volunteer i'm going to be a servant i'm going to be committed for the time to serve is now now now now my next point is is really simple because i promise you i told you that i would not be before you long and that's this we have to have the right mindset we got to have the proper mindset get this the master said that the servant can rest and eat after he gets his supper amen oh and by the way there is no thank you involved because this is the servant's duty somebody just missed it well i know why you missed it because you feel like i'm talking about you because see this parable gives us a clear illustration into the proper mindset for the servant of christ when i say my brothers and sisters people of god in the house and those of you who are streaming when i say we have to have the proper mindset i'm referring to the fact that we must notice this that the servant is to spend time preparing and getting himself ready and then he is to serve it's there in the text i promise it's there in the text because look at what it says in verse 8 he says won't he rather say prepare my supper get yourself ready and wait on me a while the master saying you cannot do what i need you to do in the condition that you're in right now i need you to make some preparations to serve me and see we don't want to go little do we want to do the serving but we don't even want to prepare ourselves for serve because to prepare ourself means we have to die to ourselves we have to die to ourselves you've got to set aside your own wants your own needs your own desires to serve those that are around you here it is i had to challenge the ministerial team prior to coming here not here at this church but i had to challenge my ministerial team from this aspect how can i depend on you to meet the needs of the congregation when i'm constantly doing triage on you how can the doctor be ready to operate on someone that's coming through the er when he's sitting somewhere day after day someone's got to talk him off the ledge and see that comes from us not being prepared for service what i mean by not being prepared you haven't prayed you haven't meditated on the word of god you have insult the holy spirit to hear what needs to be done and to hear what you need to do because i'm going to tell you something now i'm about to really get in trouble we have gotten so focused on running to the bible to see what the scripture says that we don't check with the holy spirit to hear what the lord is saying right now because i hate to bust your bubble he says he's coming back for his church he didn't say he was coming back for the bible [Applause] he said i'm coming back for my church but you will not obtain that position until we get into a position of servanthood amen so the servant has to get himself ready before he can wait on his master if you're teaching make sure you have your lesson ready if you're a small group leader and it's a good idea to have the chapter completed i have to remind myself of that one a couple of times when you go to the pta meetings at school make sure you prayed up when you looking for ways to serve your neighbors get yourself ready by thinking through what their needs are realize who we are servants of christ then you can realize who he is our master amen someone said that most christians actually do want to serve god unfortunately unfortunately they want to serve him as an advisor as martin said i'm gonna let them marinate for a moment they don't want to serve him as a servant they want to serve him as an advisor they want to give god instructions god this is what you need to do to bless me this is what i need you to do to to to make me comfortable my prayer life is so narrow that i can't see what's going on in the lives of other people that are around me because i'm focused on the needs for me and mine but when you are a servant get what i'm about to say when you are a servant serving doesn't make you a servant but if you are a servant you'll want to serve because here it is if i'm so focused on me and mine how can i stand in the gap for you and yours if i'm so focused on me and mine how can i stand in the gap for you and yours jesus he challenged his disciples in this way and i shared this with the brothers again pastor byrd that small groups thing is definitely what we need so i i thank you sir for listening to the lord and being obedient to what he's instructed you but i shared this thursday night with the men in kingdom rising kingdom man rising and brothers and for those of you who haven't signed up you are missing out on some powerful teaching going on in there but but i shared this with the men and that's this when you look in the text in matthew as jesus called the disciples the disciples some of them had they had various reasons why they weren't ready to leave at that time one said i need to go back and tell my family about another one said i need to go bury my father and and various things but jesus shut all that down he said let the dead bury the dead anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back he's not fit but now what was he saying here's what jesus was saying as i dealt with that through the leading of the holy spirit he was saying glenn i was trying to teach them that because they're leaving their families that's not neglect that's faith that i'm going to take care of their families [Applause] see when you are a servant you don't be concerned about yourself you'll be concerned about the master and if you have enough faith in who the master is and what the master can do then you can say father i'm gonna do what you need me to do because i know you will take care of my family i don't have to be there every time for every baseball game every football game i don't have to be there for those things girl i may like to maybe it might be good but if i'm serving you i can trust you so it's not neglect it's faith [Music] it's a tough this is a tough one to work walk through isn't it because right now like i said i didn't come to shout you i came to ouch because we should be looking at ourselves right now cause i had to look at myself through this so let me go ahead and clear something up right now during this time of worship leading up through the service there was nothing wrong with me over there in the corner my wife wasn't standing by me because we got bad news or we were fighting or anything like that there it was i was over there having a moment with my master because this here cut both ways the only difference is i've been bleeding from it a little longer than you starting to bleed from it it cut me before he got a chance to cut you amen so he he said so the the servant has to have the proper mindset and we've got to pray and then we've got to realize who we are and who he is see it doesn't work that way he he he he tells it it doesn't work when we have the the opportunity and the ability to tell the lord what we will and what we won't do because the moment you go there you're not a servant you're a volunteer but when you are a servant he tells us what to do and where to go when we are a servant he doesn't ask our opinion about where to serve when we are serving he doesn't ask our opinion about the timeline of events in our service when we are a servant he doesn't ask our opinion about what we like to do when we are a servant he doesn't ask our opinion about when to move or how long to stay when we are a servant he is the master and we are the bond slave when we are a servant he tells us where to go how long to stay what to do when to do it how to do it and what to do next see we don't want to put ourselves under that type of subjection we want to have freedom but as paul identified in first corinthians you were bought with a price so you are not your own so then if you are not your own then what makes us think that we can tell him how and when we are going to serve the only way we are able to do that my brothers and sisters is when we are not servants but let's look at verse nine let's look at verse 9 here verse 9 says will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do jesus here is pointing out the fact that servants should not expect to be thanked i knew it was going to be quiet there after working all day the servant was no doubt tired sounds familiar a word of thanks would have been encouraging and refreshing but he didn't get a thank you have you ever felt like god owes you something for what you have done for him and i i can be honest i i have felt that way and i was wrong i was wrong but i have felt that way some of us think god somehow owes us for all that we've done for him the pharisees believe that their deeds put god in their debt this kind of thinking gets us my brothers and sisters into deep trouble because god does not owe us anything and i hear what i'm about to say with you in fact according to first corinthians like i said 619 he owns us he doesn't owe us are you with me too many of us serve with way too many expectations and that's what gets us frustrated and angry and mad and we determined to never serve again because no one thanked us or because it didn't go the way we wanted it to go god does not need us to serve him it's our duty as a believer and a disciple to follow him there's no guarantees that trouble won't come your way just because you serve the lord there's no guarantee that you won't have financial troubles even when you have given to the lord there's no guarantee that you won't face health problems even when you are devoted to the lord we feel like god holds some type of cosmic balance sheet and if we do good then he'll reward us with good and if we do bad he'll reward us with bad that's wrong my brothers and sisters that it's completely wrong we have yet to do anything good apart from him we have yet to do anything good apart from him we are yet to do anything good apart from him every good and perfect gift comes from him everything that's good is through him so if we can't create something good without him what makes us think what gives us the unmitigated goal to think that if we do something good he owes us for it we should be glad in knowing that the reward for us is what he did through us in the first place [Music] we ought to be glad in knowing that the reward for us was that he did something through us in the first place no people are god god doesn't owe us anything but the blessing is that he will reward his faithful servants he doesn't owe us anything but he said i promise you i will reward my faithful servants are you with me that's that that's exciting right there and knowing that not to mention also the rewards that we have in heaven and heaven itself for that matter because as servants of christ we have got to have the proper mindset we have got to realize that he is the master and we are the slave but now let me clarify something because i don't want to leave that i don't want to leave verse 9 without clearing this up i don't think it's wrong to show appreciation when someone is serving i don't think it's wrong to do that in fact we need to do more of that but most people including me get discouraged and the word of encouragement can go a long way it happens to all of us all of us have days where we are not quite flowing the way we need to flow so a word of encouragement can help us it's even in the bible when you look at hebrews the third chapter and the 13th verse and it says that we are to encourage each other every 24 hours it says daily hebrews 3 and 13 encourage each other every day but encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you may be heartened by sins deceitfulness he's saying encourage them make them you know encourage them through where they are so they don't get caught up in that mindset and begin to think that i don't i'm not appreciated nobody thanks me no nobody's thanking me for where i am even though that's not what it should be on the focus of your attention during the serving time but the lord has so much love for us that he even put something in through the holy spirit to prevent us from slipping into that position he says encourage them daily the theme verse the theme verse is jesus did not come but to serve he didn't come to be served he came to serve what i'm simply saying brother sis brothers and sisters is is it's dangerous to expect affirmation and wrong for us to expect acknowledgement and make that the motivation for our service if you start to serve and you're doing it because you want to get a pat on the back you want to hear someone say your name you're coming in with the wrong mindset already serving doesn't make you a servant but if you serve you will if you're a servant you will serve serving does not make you a servant but if you are a servant you will serve and as we continue to examine the role of servants of christ we must also be which is my fourth steadfast in your service be steadfast in your service look at verse 10 verse 10 so likewise i'm sorry so you also when you have done everything you were told to do should say we are unworthy servants we have only done our duty unfortunately too many of us want to know what serving will cost us and how will it benefit us if the benefits outweigh the cost then we can find we can't find it into our schedule if me serving this ministry doesn't benefit me at all then i can't find a way to be a part of that ministry i don't see a need for me to be a part of that many if the benefits outweigh the cost and we can find it into our schedule then maybe we can do a little bit of ministry but this verse helps us to see what being a servant is all about a servant's heart is intent upon and his will is bound to the will and wishes of another i'm gonna say that again a servant's heart is intent upon and his will is bound to the will and wishes of another if i am your servant what you said goes someone put it like this regardless of how much we do we cannot do more than is expected of us regardless of how much we do we cannot do more than what is expected of us can we really say my brothers and sisters that we've done everything we've been told to do can we really say that a key phrase in this verse is when you have done everything when you look at verse 10 a key phrase and it says when you have done everything the servant that jesus uses in this parable had plenty of work to do his job was not complete until each task was finished he couldn't feed half the cows he couldn't plow half the field he couldn't cook half of the meal he had to do everything that his master told him to do and there will be times my brothers and sisters when you want to quit there will be people that you don't want to deal with there will be places that you don't want to go there will be some things that you don't want to do but when you are a servant when you are a servant your wants don't matter only the desires of the master just like the servant in this parable we must do all the work so my question for you this morning is are you doing all the work that the lord has called you to do are you doing all the work when it comes to the class that you're teaching are you doing all the work when it comes to the committee that you're on are you doing all the work when it comes to the children's church and and and nursery and so forth are you doing all the work when it comes to visiting others are you doing all the work when it comes to reaching out to those that are on the prayer list oh are you doing all the work when it comes to witnessing are you doing all the work when it comes to loving others are you doing all the work when it comes to serving christ are you doing all the work or are you just doing enough to get by in your mind because see we must be steadfast in our service remember what paul said about this in 1st corinthians the 15th chapter and then the 58th verse he says therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the lord your labor is never in vain when you are a servant of the lord be steadfast in your service to him the last thing i i want to say about serving our volunteers is that we must and i i did not get this to them for this point to be put up on the screen like i said the lord was still dealing with me uh just to just before service and that is remember who you are i mean who you serve because look again in verse 10 verse 10 says so you also when you have done everything you were told to do so should say we are unworthy servants we have only done our duty he says some translations say unprofitable but this one here says unworthy now i want to stop right there before i go any further because i don't want you to get caught up on that word unworthy we're talking about servants amen we may be unworthy in that sense but get this the lord sees your value if god did not see your value then jesus would have never came and died for all of us upon the cross so though it may say unworthy see that's one problem right now with some of us some of us are dealing with some self-value issues we're dealing with some issues where we don't think that we are worthy and then we have those who think that they're too worthy that i'm above i'm above you helping you is beneath me but i need you and i'm gonna use this word and you will hear this word quite often when if i preach if the lord says the same and pastor byrd says the same if i preach again here at this church you will hear this word again and that's identity you have to know who you are in the lord you cannot just like i shared with the man you just can't say i identify as this and then expect everybody to treat you that way i can't go stand in the garage and say i'm a cadillac all day it doesn't make me a car you've got to identify who you are you've got to know who you are you can't allow the enemy to come and try to trick you into believing you that you're something that you're not so if god sent his only begotten son to die on your behalf don't you let the enemy tell you that you're unworthy don't you let someone come in your life and tell you that you are useless don't you let someone come in your life and tell you that you will never be anything don't you let anyone come into your atmosphere and tell you that you are nothing for god so loved the world that's all of us that he gave his only that's all of us that's you and whoever that clown may be standing in front of you telling you that you're nothing amen so i i i don't want us to to to get caught up on that unworthy part and and lose lose sight of the fact that it says unworthy but you are valuable and because god saw your value jesus came so here it is here it is he says we are on profitable servants some translations say we have done that which was our duty no matter what no matter what no matter where you go or what you do it is an honor to be a servant of the lord jesus modeled service for us at the last supper as he girded himself he prepared he dressed himself he prepared himself and he washed the disciples feet this was the job of a servant jesus came to the earth to give his life as a ransom while we were yet sinners in due time he came to die for us jesus entire life was a life of service john wesley says though we are unprofitable to unprofitable to servants we are unprofitable servants to christ serving him is not unprofitable to us i say that again even though it may identify us as unprofitable servants to christ serving him is not unprofitable to us for he is pleased by his grace a value he he he is so pleased with us that he has given us grace of value to our good works which is in consequence of his promise entitles us to an eternal reward so understand this my brothers and sisters as i get ready to go to my seat jesus was not saying that our servants to him is meaningless or useless he is not removing rewards from the picture what he is doing is warning against an attitude of self-righteousness and pride because you can't serve someone when you have pride in the way you can serve someone when you are self-righteous he is reminding us of the relationship between the servant and the master and may we never forget my brothers and sisters that jesus is the master and we are the servants so something that we can take away from this portion of scripture is this the believer's life is not about us it's about him church is not about us it's about him so i want to ask you this morning why do you do what you do why do you do what you do why do you walk through those doors why do you log in and stream this service sunday after sunday why do you play the instruments why do you sing on the praise team why do you teach the class why do you work so diligently to take care of this building in these facilities why do you serve in the ministry whatever you do why do you do it is it for the glory the attention the compliments etc if it is then you're wasting your time the kind of servant that jesus will bless is a humble servant one who knows his role church there is work to do now is not the time for idleness we've got we have to have the proper mindset we have to be steadfast in our service and then we have to remember who we serve do you serve the lord if so what is your motivation the issue is really one of obedience now here's where i might need security before i leave out of here i have said it time and time again hallelujah is the highest form of praise that's what i've said i've preached it i've shouted on it i couldn't find it in scripture but i have shouted on it and i believe hallelujah is a high form of praise but here's what i believe what through the holy spirit has shown me the highest form of praise if you love me feed my sheep if you want to give me the highest form of praise obey me if you want to give me if you're going to say i'm your lord and you're going to give me the highest form of praise obey my instructions if you're going to if you want to give me the highest form of praise then obey those that i have placed over you for your spiritual growth your spiritual material obey them that's how you give me the highest form of praise the highest form of praise comes through being obedient this servanthood peace has a whole new look to it now doesn't it and and that's why i say the issue is really one of obedience am i going to serve myself or serve others the servant doesn't the servant does his duty out of devotion to the master it was kirk garden who said get this it's hard to believe not because it's hard to understand but because it's hard to obey did you get that he says it's hard to believe not because it's hard to understand but because it's hard to obey it's not me first or even we first it's got to be he first we need to be involved in service i'm going to say that again we need to be involved in service not serve us how do we do this let me give you some practical applications surrender first to the savior the first place to start is by making sure that you have surrendered to the savior by being saved and that you are a developed disciple number two choose to be a servant not a volunteer richard foster in his book celebration of discipline writes there's a difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant we could say it this way don't serve until you understand the servanthood issue but once you settle it don't ever stop serving in john the 13th chapter we read about jesus watching the dirty feet of his disciples he did this enlarged to set an example of what servanthood is all about so he concludes the lesson with these words in john the 13th chapter 17th verse now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them that's obedience have you ever been to a foot washing service have you ever been to a foot washing service well we're going to do we're going to have one right now so when the ushers come down your road and sit y'all got nervous you got nervous just relax i'm just kidding now here's the question i don't know if you got nervous because you don't want to wash someone's feet or you don't want someone washing your feet or maybe you ain't put no lotion on your feet i don't know what you got nervous about but the thing is you can relax but notice how quickly it changed when we thought for a moment that i might have to get down and serve someone so again i didn't come to shout you i came to out you i didn't come to shout myself i came to out myself and to make a declaration that servanthood is where i need to be and stop deceiving myself through volunteering galatians 6 and 13 says that he who thinks himself to be something that he is not deceives himself so when you think you're serving and you really volunteering you're deceiving yourself people of god this has been the instructions from god for the people of god thanks be unto god i want to give god some praise in this place amen come on and give god some praise not only for the message for the messenger as we continue to trust god [Music] it is my prayer that god has placed upon your heart and this time in this space and in this season to be servants of the most high we heard even in our message today that to be a servant is not to do it our way but it's to be obedient to doing it god's way [Music] even if if we don't always like or agree with god's way servants are still willing to submit themselves under the authority of the master here's why because god already sees the end of a thing at the beginning of a thing and so while we may see through a narrow lens and a narrow view god has the ability to see the entire picture he knows how your ability and your willingness to serve fits into it all right where you are every head about every eye close a part of serving god is to submit to god a part of serving god is to understand that again your life is not your own rather your life belongs to the master if you're here this morning or perhaps you may be watching us if you've never received christ as your lord and savior if you've never submitted your life to the master we don't want to leave without giving you the opportunity to do just that you can never be a servant of god until you receive the salvation of god [Music] god loves you and he desires to save you maybe you've received salvation but maybe you want to serve by connecting with the place where you can render your service unto god if you don't have a church home whether you're here you may be watching us online we want to invite you to be a part of this ministry we're not a perfect ministry but we are a ministry that believes in the power of god and the power of serving not in the power of being served but in the power of serving others if that's you this morning i want you to keep your head bowed but we want you to be able to connect with us and one of the ways that you can do that is simply by emailing us or giving us a call on the screens there's an email address you can give us a call here at the church so that we can connect with you pray with you and celebrate with you the decisions that you've made father we thank you for this day we thank you for this time of coming together [Music] we thank you god for being called into your service [Music] that god you've given us the opportunity and the right to be called servants of you the most high god [Music] god we pray that the service that you've called us to [Music] that we would walk worthy the calling that you've placed upon our lives god we pray that we would evaluate and re-evaluate to ensure god that we're not just volunteers but that we are operating as the servants you've called us to be god i pray now for those decisions that have been made on today those who've made decisions to receive you as their lord and savior those that have made decisions to connect with this faith family with this church home but then god we pray for those prayers that may not have been called out and mentioned we thank you god that you know the hearts of your people and you know exactly what it is that we stand in need of god we commit our lives today to serving you [Music] now god as we prepare to leave this place [Music] it is always our prayer that you would go with us and that as we leave father that we would walk forever in your favor that we would walk in your blessing and that we would walk in your cover but god we pray that not only for ourselves but as servants we pray that for everyone that's connected to us as well this is your servant brother we lift in the name of he who said i if i be lifted up from the earth you'll serve us by drawing all men unto thee in jesus name we pray amen amen and amen listen thank god for each and every one of you will you help me one more time give god some praise for minister glenn thompson amen amen listen five o'clock this afternoon our registration will open where there's limited seating but we want you to be in the place so listen we want you to text the word register to the church phone number because we want you to join us in worship amen here at the free world church if you can't join us amen in person we continue to invite you to join us online but don't wait until next sunday every wednesday morning i'm so excited that we come together hundreds of us on our prayer line it's called our empowerment prayer line as god meets us god blesses us amen and god speaks to us to all of you god bless you in the sanctuary our ushers will dismiss you we thank god for each and every one of you and we'll see you back here on the next day [Music] you

Channel: Freewill Missionary Baptist Church

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Length: 120min 33sec (7233 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021