Servanthood The Pathway to Success

father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you lord that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force and father i pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me and all of you it's in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen at this time if you would go to your bibles to the book of mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10 and today i want to minister something to you that hopefully will change your your leadership style or hopefully will help you to evaluate who you are but i believe that this can really help you to understand god's attitude in god's mind we're living in a very interesting time right now a time where everybody is trying to be successful but they want to bypass those things that make a success it is a time where somehow people have been convinced that a team of one can actually get you to the place of great success and that's not true nobody is ever going to to be successful uh by trying to achieve it with a team of one in other words just you you got to stand on somebody's shoulders there's got to be someone around that will cause some of those things to happen and when you talk about being a servant well nobody's interested in being a servant everybody wants to be the boss everybody wants to be the head guy and not realizing that the way to being the head is through servanthood servanthood is something that is very rarely spoken of very rarely preached in my generation coming up this church 35 years ago was in and was just just engulfed in teachings on servanthood and we knew the power of servanthood and i remember when people started saying about the people who were serving well they're just they're just pastors flunkies or they're just a bunch of little slaves and and you know you know they're just under somebody else's control and slowly but surely this area of servanthood was being thrown down and and not uh honored the way it should be it was actually being diminished because of worldly attitudes and people looking at things through their philosophy or through the lens that they looked at the world through and so i'm i'm going to talk to you today about servanthood the pathway to success servanthood the pathway to success and if there's one thing that i'm sure about i'm sure that this pathway will lead you to success my life as a servant for now about 40 years continues to go on because uh we can serve god in a in a variety of ways we're not talking about serving people who you know are doing wrong things or serving people trying to get you to do wrong things we're we're talking about serving god and we're talking about serving the kingdom of god but what i've discovered is you can't serve god or his kingdom without serving people let me say that again you can't serve god or his kingdom without serving his people and so um that's something that became a reality in my life that uh if i'm going to serve god the way jesus taught then i've got to be willing to serve people and so let's get into this i want to start off with this definition or not a definition but a statement i want you to think about and the statement is this true leadership is servanthood true leadership is servanthood now you hunger to be a leader but you've also you can't be that leader you can't be a true leader without servanthood i heard a man say one day when his mother fell ill and he had to uh take care of her and he realized what a lousy servant he was and he said to himself he says listen i must have been in deception the whole time because i thought i was a good leader until i saw my servanthood i thought that was so powerful i thought i was a great leader until i saw that i wasn't a great servant listen to me very carefully true leadership is servanthood and the greatest leader of all times was also the greatest servant of all times and he was his name is jesus christ now i need you to think with me for a moment jesus christ the greatest servant of all time also the greatest leader of all times they go hand in hand there's no there's no you're never going to be a great leader you're never going to be an awesome head of anything until you are a great leader and an awesome until you are a great servant and an awesome servant to something else listen to me carefully look at mark chapter 10 and verse 42 through 45 mark chapter 10 verse 42 through 45. now this is a this is a very interesting scripture or set of scriptures because actually you know if you back up to verse 35 you see uh this story about james and john they were the sons of zebedee they came to jesus and they asked jesus this question in verse 35. they wanted to know master we would that that thou should us do for us whatsoever we shall desire and he said unto them verse 36 he said unto them he says what would you that i should do for you now remember they're talking to jesus the greatest servant of all times and then said unto him grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory so here is james and john wanting uh some favor from jesus can we sit on the left hand or the right hand once we get the glory but jesus said unto them you know not what you ask can you drink of the cup that i drink of and be baptized with the baptism that i'm baptized baptized with and verse 39 says and they said unto him we can and jesus said unto them you shall indeed drink of the cup that i drink of and with the baptism that i am baptized with all shall you be baptized but verse 40. listen but to sit on my right hand or on my left hand is not mine to give but it shall be given to them from whom is prepared now i i ask what is it about verse 40 why was it not his to give well we're going to keep reading and you're going to find out that he was a servant and he says it's not mine to give see jesus jesus knew he he says i serve god i'm a servant this is not mine to give i mean he had an attitude of the servant he took on the form of a servant and even in this situation says that's not mine to give i'm a servant to the one that's going to be responsible for that now notice he goes on here and he says of course in verse 41 the disciples were not pleased at all that james and john even approach jesus with this and then verse 42 but jesus called them to him and he saith unto them you know that they which are accounted to rule over the gentiles exercise lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority upon them 43 but so shall it not be among you in other words this is not going to happen to those of you who served the kingdom but so shall it not be among you but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister or your servant you see the word minister is translated servant and we don't understand why is it when somebody comes to you and they say well are you a minister they're thinking are you a person that preaches from the pulpit that's not what he's talking about here when he's talking about you being a minister he's talking about you being a servant and and and so the people on the pulpit should be servants first he's not referring to ministers that preach the bible he's talking about ministers uh and the word here is ministers that use here in the king james but it's translated servant and what he says whoever's gonna be great among you let him be your servant and so somehow we missed that and we thought you know once we got our ordination papers then now we are ministers now we're great no no no you're great because you are a servant and he says and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all shall be servant of all so he says if you're going to be great you got to go past servanthood if you're going to be the chief you can't do it without servanthood and then he says in verse 45 for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many look at verse 45 in the nlt he's talking about servant he says the son of man came not to to be ministered unto in the uh in the nlt says for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others he came not to be served but to serve others i tell you what boy some christians love to be served but he says jesus jesus the son of god came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom or a payment for many you got to understand jesus died and gave his whole life as a ransom so so we could be free from the consequences of all the sins in our life he did not he he served us literally with his life now think about it if jesus the son of god came not to serve but to not to be served but he came to serve excuse me if jesus the son of god came not to to be served but to serve how do you how do you skip that how is it that as christians we completely skip this issue of serving god and serving the kingdom how is it that you know we want to skip serving go to bible school and then somebody give us a pulpit to preach in how is it that we want to skip serving people and want to be appointed ahead of something when jesus came not to be to be served but to be his servant and you'll find out in these lessons that that is the path to greatness that is the path to greatness now let's move on look at philippians chapter two philippians chapter two verses six through seven philippians chapter two verse six two three and seven in fact let's start at uh let's start at verse five philippians 2 5 6 and 7. now notice here he talks about this mind let this mind be in you let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus now i'm going to show you that this mindset that jesus had was servanthood you've got to understand that servanthood is an attitude that's exemplified by jesus servanthood is an attitude the attitude of every christian should be servanthood you want to know how to pick a leader you're looking for one with an attitude of servanthood you want to know how to get somebody who's going to be the head of your your company you're looking for someone who has the attitude of servanthood listen to this carefully now let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus verse six who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal to god so in this situation here this is so powerful to me because in this situation jesus decided well i'm not gonna i'm not gonna go for i'm not going to go for this issue of trying to be equal with god let me show you something i wrote something down i want to make sure i said it jesus did not seek equality with god but he chose the role of a servant instead so what do you mean he was he was he was equal with god but he thought it not robert he'd be equal with god but look at verse 7 verse 7 says but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men all right now listen to this he did not he did not choose he did not seek equality with god he chose the role of a servant instead there's got to be some great wisdom in this that through our filter we're not picking up it's almost like the way up is down it is something about passing that test not that you ever stop either you just move into other forms of servanthood but jesus chose servanthood over being equal with god and notice what he says who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but instead verse 7 made himself of no reputation now this is so interesting because you have to be of no reputation to be a servant to in the kingdom of god if you're always concerned about a good reputation uh where you're working real hard to maintain a good reputation or you know you're working real hard not to have a bad reputation and you're working real hard to make that happen jesus says i am of no reputation basically jesus was like saying i don't care what anybody thinks about me i'm not going to give time to anybody's opinion about my reputation jesus was of no reputation why he says he took on the form of a servant you're not going to be able to take on the form of a servant being concerned about your reputation you're not going to be able to take on the form of a servant you know having this almost like shame to to serve the kingdom of god and and and to serve in the kingdom of god he took on the form of a servant and and here's something in verse 8 and then he says and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself he humbled himself see you never will be the servant that jesus talks about without humbling yourself you have to submit yourself to servanthood and the number one enemy to servanthood in today's society is self-centeredness it's it's all about me it's it's i'm not concerned about walking in humility i'm concerned about uh developing importance in the eyes of other people that's pride that's the pride of life i want to be seen as important i want to be seen as important i'm working real hard some people just lie about their reputation if it makes them look like they're important in the eyes of other people and so jesus said you know he humbled himself he humbled himself think of this the son of god humbling himself to be in the form of a servant and so are you willing to humble yourself to be in the form of a servant that you know it's all right for me to be a preacher and i humbled myself to the call of god on my life but am i working real hard to to to make it seem like i'm more than just a preacher i'm i'm this fantastic person i'm i'm i'm well known in the political arena no i'm not doing that i'm i have to humble myself to be what god has called me to be are you willing to do that oh some of you are it this is like i don't want to hear this because this is not where i want to go and we keep ignoring the pathway that leads you to success while we continue to try to get it while we continue to work hard to get it come up with our own way to get it and jesus has already developed up listen to this taffy said this morning jesus has already given you access to greatness through this path of servanthood amen so look at this john 13 let's look at verse 12 in john 13. i just want to share this is i want to share these things with you today because i don't know i just i believe that we it's something we need to hear it's something we need to you know the bible says in hebrews be careful not to let certain things slip well i i certainly believe we've let this area of servanthood slip because you know times are different and you got social media you got the internet and now everybody has a microphone now everybody has the opportunity to bypass the form of a servant and not humble and submit themselves to a servant because they think that no i want i want the head i ain't working with i want the head and i'm telling you you have to you have to go this path in order to get there now you may tap into some forms of success but the problem is it won't last the problem is it won't last because you got there the wrong way now watch this this is so so good look at uh john 13 and let's start at verse 12. he says so after he had washed their feet now now now listen to this we're going to talk a little bit about the foot the foot washing doctrine i'm not trying to you know uh you know make somebody mad at me or come against this but i want you to look at this scripture here all right he says so after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again he said unto them know ye what i have done to you so now jesus washed their feet and after he washed their feet he said do you know what's been what was done to you so here it's like okay jesus did this for a reason a purpose he's trying to communicate something to them to do he's asking do you know what's done to you all right look at verse 13. he says you call me master and lord and you say well for so am i if i then your lord and master have washed your feet you also are ought to wash one another's feet now look at what he's doing he's trying to con communicate something much greater than foot washing he says you call me your master you call me your lord you're telling me i'm great in your sight you're telling me i'm your leader and i just submitted myself to wash your feet and he says so as i've washed your feet i want you to do the same thing watch carefully as i've watched your feet so ought you to wash one another's feet now please understand this is much bigger than washing feet look at the next verse for i have given you an example that you should do as i have done to you notice what foot washing was an example an example to do what he has done what did he do he served them by washing their feet so he picked an example of washing feet and he says what i'm trying to get you to do is serve one another like i serve you so we decided to create a foot washing doctrine ain't got no problem with that but we decided to create a foot washing doctrine and we'll watch we'll watch somebody's feet and then get up from that and still not serve in any area and jesus says i want you to serve one another like i served you that's the message the message is not every time you see somebody sit down let me wash your feet i mean that's cool but it's like dude that's it's much bigger than foot washing it's serving it's serving i want you to this is what i want you to do i want you to serve one another like i serve like i your master and your lord submitted to serving you i want you not to be so high and mighty that you don't understand that this is what i want you to do i want you to serve one another i want you to serve one another then he goes on here he says for i have given you an example that you should do as i have done to you verse 16 verily verily i say unto you watch this this servant is not greater than his lord and neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him jesus was saying the servant you said you call me lord the servant's not greater than his lord and then he referred back to himself neither am i greater than the one that sent me all right watch this this is so good verse 17 if you know these things happy are you if you do them look at that last verse in the in the nlt he says if you know these things that i'm trying to teach you about servanthood then happy or blessed or fortunate or prosperous will you do be if you do notice this in nlt says now that you know these things god will bless you for doing them god will bless you for doing them there is a blessing when you go down the pathway of servanthood there is a blessing when you go down the path of servanthood for those that do this they will be blessed they will be happy they will be prosperous they will be blessed god will bless you for doing them doing what serving serving serving show me a man that's committed himself to serving the kingdom of god and i'll show you a man who operates in the blessings of god and in the favor of god and he is happy and he is prosperous but that's just that a lot of a lot of people who won't even receive that message and i'm telling you it's vital to serve we'll get into the the degree of this servanthood but i just want to see show you these promises that jesus was saying and i don't know about you but if servanthood by doing them you are blessed man i want to make sure that i am a servant all the time all the time and maybe there there are some things you need to understand about your anointing and and the things that you choose to do so jesus wants these disciples in this verse of scripture he wants them to remember that he served humankind and they should too that he served humankind and they should too there's a blessing in it there's a blessing in it they served he served humankind and they should too now go to the book of mark chapter 9 the book of mark chapter 9 and verse 33 through 35 mark 9 33 through 35. very interesting here um i'm going to bring up something that we're all familiar with but i think now i know where it fits and what it means verse 33 says and he came to compernia and being in the house he asked them because he was asking the disciples they had a little issue on the way uh to capernaum um they were trying to they were talking amongst themselves the disciples well who's the leader of the group they said it like this who's the greatest amongst us okay and so jesus was getting ready to ask this question what were y'all talking about like he knew but he wanted to see if they would bring it up and he says what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way on the way here to capernaum verse 34 but they held their peace in other words they didn't say nothing for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest who should be the greatest or who should be the leader of them okay and uh verse 35 and so jesus sat down and he called the twelve and he saith unto them because he knew what that you know jesus knows that stuff all right and verse and he says if any man desires to be first uh the same shall be last of all and servant of all he says now you're talking about who's the greatest amongst you you're talking about who's the leader he's talking about who's the first he says all right i'ma answer your question the first one is going to be the the last of all because he's the servant of all oh yeah yeah the whole body looks at you and they all well you're just a servant if they understood the power and the blessings of servanthood they would never ever ever refer to it as just a servant they they there's a demeaning type of uh connotation to how they say things about people you're just a servant and jesus said the guy that wants to be first the guy that wants to be the greatest amongst you the guy that wants to be the leader let him be last and let him be a servant he sees god god's got some wisdom here that'll blow your mind nobody's working to be last nobody even really desires to be a servant people want to be seen and hurt by folks they want they want again to be up in front so they can kind of you know make make make it feel like you know that they're important but there's a power and an anointing and a blessing in being the last and being the servant of all now this is so so very important i um i go to go to matthew chapter 19 matthew chapter 19. i'm debating on whether or not i want to do the whole bulk of this chapter because you know jesus is trying to get people to understand servanthood and uh in in studying this servanthood i i kind of reevaluated some things not that what you thought or what i thought about these scriptures are wrong but i i kind of reevaluated some of the things that i i saw and so and i think i will i think it will be a blessing if i went through the whole thing um well let me just start off where out where i want to be and then and then maybe i'll see if i go back there look at uh [Music] verse matthew chapter 19 and let's look at verse 29 and 30. matthew 19 29 and 30. all right now you're familiar with this he says in verse 28 uh let's start at verse 28 and jesus said unto them verily i say unto you that you which have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory shall also ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of israel so he's saying to his disciples he says you guys are going to sit on the throne to judge israel with god that's pretty awesome that's pretty that's pretty awesome amen and he says in verse 29 and every one that hath forsaken houses brethren sister father mother wife children lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first now why'd that come up in there because i believe what he's talking about when he says forsaken all this stuff i believe what he's talking about is are you willing [Music] to to take yourself to give up your rights to another and to devote to others interests rather than your own i believe that's what that was saying there are you willing to give up your rights to another and to devote to another's interest rather than your own that's hard in the today's society everybody is concerned about their own interests and the bible prophesies that what's going to happen at the end of the day are you willing to to separate yourself from your own interests i'm telling you not many people are they everybody's got a a plan everybody's got their their interests and and and they don't understand the way to get your interest to manifest is to be devoted to somebody else's interest and and that's what servanthood it used to be uh apprenticeship was big when i was coming up it was just a privilege to work for free so you can see how this thing goes together it was an honor to be able to do that i remember as a student in my senior year i had the privilege to to coach in in spring football i had an opportunity to be around them to see what they were doing and then finally i got an opportunity to spend a couple of weeks doing it myself it was awesome it's like you feel confidence because you know i i had to put away my interest in and serve somebody else's interest and then that puts me ahead and i think that's what he's talking about servanthood he's like because he brings this thing up again he says many that were many that are first are going to be last and i believe the ones that are first that are going to end up being last are those who decided to go down another pathway you got there first but it doesn't last long because you're being replaced with the person who was last oh my god i've seen it over and over again i've seen someone that was in in first place replaced with somebody in last place because there's something about this power of servanthood being in last place or being the servant is a guaranteed way to be in first place oh my god oh my god and some of you just need to live long enough so you can see this work out it may see the thing about a servant is you have to have patience because this thing doesn't happen overnight i know the guy who's our ceo right now brother vernon served this ministry for 20 years or more and he is now the ceo of this ministry it didn't come overnight but here's the thing about it he served in ministry for 20 years is the ceo of the ministry right now and he's still serving you can't stop him because you have to understand it it didn't happen overnight but it is an assured promotion that's working hour by hour day by day week by week month by month it's an assured thing and it's something that when you arrive there god uses all of those days and years and hours to have prepared you for being first but a lot of people don't want to do that they think that the internet is here so anybody can do something now let's just get on the internet dude you can but you can only go so far because your character is your ceiling and there are lots of things you neglect because you refuse to serve somebody that's why i said a team of one will never be successful a long time you're gonna have to stand on somebody's shoulders you're gonna have to to serve somebody to really get a hold of of what all that means and so i believe that's what jesus was talking about here he's talking about but many of that offer shall be last think of that think about those who are the first and then all of a sudden the last gonna end up being the first wow that's awesome that's awesome amen let me show you something this is so important serving others is the very essence of ministry you know people always talk about want to be in ministry serving others is the very essence of ministry you don't want to be in ministry if you're not if you don't have the attitude of servanthood if the only thing you're interested in is the paycheck you you're the first on your way to be last to be replaced by who was last i'm telling you it just works that way it's like circumstances come along and cause these things to happen but here's one thing i do know serving others is the very essence of ministry i mean in my own life i i was uh i was i mean i served extremely i was at a baptist church and i decided i'm you know i'm going to serve the kingdom of god and i'm going to serve the kingdom of god with whatever abilities i have and i knew how to clean up because i worked with my grandparents in the summertime they had a cleaning business and and i knew how to do that and so i went to work i looked at the building and i thought the building needed to be cleaned and just some details things need to happen and i started off started off by cleaning all the bathrooms with a with a toothbrush and some baking soda and got on my knees and would scrub to scrub that tile and and would shine everything up and and and and just whatever i had to do i cut the grass i i did all kinds of things i pulled carpet up from the cement i whatever i could do to serve and i did it with joy i did it with joy i was the last i was at the last man and sometimes i've been in situations where i was the only person there to do those kind of things and then something happened where the pastor had to go in to get a hernia operation so there needed to be a pastor who would uh take over at that time and i was in the ministry at that time serving that's what it means and uh he called me in office one day he says i'm going to get an operation and i'd like for you to oversee the church while i'm gone and i'm like what me me why me he says because i can trust you see there's something about servanthood that that that that allows you to to get gained the attention of others to show you favor and and i knew now this was a very interesting time because i knew i knew how people were they'll try to take you and put you in places where you don't belong i knew i was standing in his stead and so i asked him i said could i preach in your role and i want to preach everything that you preach i'm not up there trying to make my point because i'm standing in your stead i am standing as a servant i am serving you this is a servant now that i have the robe on and preaching in the pulpit i'm still a servant i'm the servant and i wanted to make sure that congregation knew i was the servant and i served in that capacity to make sure that things were healthy and and just the way he left it i'm a servant see the attitude of the servant is so important and you've got to understand this principle that serving others is the very essence of ministry now let me say something that's very strong here your anointing is not for you but it's for others your anointing is not for you but it's for others look at first corinthians 12 verse 7 in the king james and then the nlt first corinthians chapter 12 and 7 talks about the gifts of the spirit or these different anointings that would come and he says but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man what to profit with all the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man and prophet all now look at this in the nlt he talks about that a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other but you've got to understand that that your anointing is not given to you every one of us have been given an anointing to do something every one of us and this this chapter happens to talk about it has been given an anointing to do something but with all of the anointings and the abilities that you have the intent was never to be self-serving with that anointing that anointing for helps that anointing to sing that anointing to preach that anointing to serve that anointing to administrate that anointing none of that anointing is to be monetized or used for your own self issues it's supposed to be somebody else it's supposed to be my anointing's not for me my anointing is for for for somebody else right now this anointing is not for me this this my anointing to teach the gospel is for you your anointing to sing is for somebody else that's the thing that's all been all messed up a long time ago the the record companies used to go into church to try to find out what was going on in the church and then they they put them on vinyl records preaching used to be on vinyl records you got to understand what anointing do you carry but you're not caring to somebody else you're just only carrying it for you you figure it out a way the god gave it to you you didn't gift yourself you didn't know it yourself you didn't call yourself you didn't equip yourself god equipped every man so we can serve one another he gave every person an anointing so we can serve one another and we are now living in a generation in a time that that's the last thing on somebody's mind to serve somebody i ain't serving nobody unless you're gonna pay me i ain't serving nobody unless you're gonna do something for me so you gotta understand the path to what you're looking for comes through servanthood but you won't sir i know people who are who are paid artists and do stuff but man when it comes to their church they're there the whole time i know a woman right now who was at the very beginning of hillsong got it really moving and rocking and rolling man and just just did it because that was her anointing and service to god and god promoted them to another level of servanthood in ministry i'm telling you what i know and i know there's some oh i don't want to hear that oh this isn't the 60s you know this is a 2021 don't nobody do that like that no more so you know what you're saying is we don't we don't pay attention to the word anymore that you got a new filter you have a new philosophy and you're viewing the world through your filter and through your worldly philosophies and you have now deemed that this truth is no longer valid and that's why you are where you are tired sweating frustrated suffering with emotional rejections because you're working hard to try to do it your way and god has already given you access to that way what a word this morning from tapping god's given you access to greatness access to leadership access to be the head and you know what you won't go down that road you won't go down that path ain't never served nobody in your life all you want is to be served all you and if that's you if you're the kind of person that all you ever want is to be served you are a person that i guarantee you i don't know when but you're going to end up being the last you're going to end up being the last and it's sad that you've seen great and awesome people they were up front they were number one in their game and then you looked at at the end of it they they were the last they're the last now you don't hear about them no more you don't know what's going on with them no more they're the last because they refuse to acknowledge this pathway of success which is servanthood servanthood is the pathway of success amen so your anointing is not for you i constantly remind myself my annoying is not for me so i don't need to be getting around being sad oh i'm i'm so tired and oh don't nobody love me won't nobody acknowledge me and nobody won't give me you know you know validate me and oh this and that and oh they didn't choose me to get the award and oh they didn't recognize me are you kidding that's baby talk this anointing is to serve the kingdom of god this anointing is to serve the gospel of god this anointing is to serve the sick the brokenhearted the torment the demon possessed and there's somebody in this earth that god has equipped with an anointing to remove the burden and destroy the yoke but you won't use it you're so busy beating yourself up because the pride of life has taken over and you're more concerned about being seen as important and you have an anointing to use for the kingdom to use for the kingdom oh my god i want to meet jesus as a servant not as somebody that think he was all that i want to see i want to meet him as a servant that when i see jesus i buy down and i'm like i'm your humble servant lord and i want them to be able to to grab me by the arms and and pick me up from my knees because i know i'm gonna fall out and say my good and faithful watch this servant he's expecting servants when that day time comes my good and faithful servant well done you've been faithful of a few now i'm gonna make you ruler over many look who gets that the servant and some people may leave the earth last but when they get to heaven they won't be last and it's not just going to heaven in order to see that promotion you can see it here now if we'll learn the power of and the pathway of servanthood look at colossians chapter 3 verse 23 and 24. colossians 3 23 and 24. uh let's look at it in the king james verse and then in nlt he says and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the lord and not unto men you know how important that is whatever you do do it heartily as unto the lord and not unto men verse 24 he says knowing that of the lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the lord jesus christ basically what he's saying whatever you do do it do it as a service to him now are you are you going to be able to say that if you look at what you're doing can you say this is a service to god or is it just a service to you look at colossians 3 23 and 24 in the nlt now let's serve others by serving christ let's serve others by serving christ look at he says he says work willingly at whatever you do so this is so important work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the lord rather than people so he says work willingly as though you're working for the lord rather than other people i had to remind that before i came into ministry that i have to i have to do this as unto the lord and when i do it as unto the lord then the people won't interfere in my attitude of service and look what he says remember that the lord will give you an inheritance as your reward when you work willingly as unto the lord see see you might not get you might not get the validation or even the promotion from the job but god says i'm going to promote you that's your inheritance i'm going to give you that award and that the master you are serving is christ the master you know you can see years ago in slavery how they took these scriptures out of context the master you're serving is christ see at everything that you're doing i'm serving christ that's the master i'm supposed to be serving ultimately it's not the the man it's not the preacher it's not the master you're serving is christ it's not the boss on your job and even though he may be the boss but i'm serving christ christ is the boss i'm serving christ is the master that i'm serving all right cool dude you're the you're the head of the company but you know i'm serving you because i'm serving christ and so my service to you is going to be awesome because i'm serving christ glory to god glory be to god amen and so let's serve others by serving christ that's how we do it i serve others by serving christ i have to keep in my my forefront of my thinking i'm i'm i'm not really serving you you're you're getting the benefit of my serving christ you're i'm a great worker on my job because i'm not going to go slack because i'm working for christ i'm on time for my job because i'm working for christ that that changes everything you start realizing i'm serving christ and so now it kind of corrects all of the sorry things that you do it's like no i'm not going to have to do this because i'm serving christ no i'm not going to carry myself in this way because i'm serving christ you see god the father has served us by sanctifying christ on the cross for our sins and we should serve others by giving the gospel and our lives to them are you serving anybody by giving the gospel and giving your life are you a taker take a take or take a taker or are you somebody that'll give give give who have you served lately who have you served lately why does everything got to be about you that's the wrong way you're going down the wrong path there is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof is destruction and in this generation and society right now there's a way that seems like it's the right way because you keep comparing yourself to the the most recent guy who has success but you don't follow their life on long enough to see how it ends up it doesn't end up right it doesn't end up right that same guy was up here on top of the mountain and not serving nobody but just serving himself and that's the same guy that died that's the same guy that that everything fell apart that's the same guy that all of a sudden i'm on top of the world and now you're at the bottom of the world and you're sitting in your house somewhere ready to blow your brains out i know people like that i know famous popular people like that who got on the phone and called me and said the greatest night of my life and i have a gun in my head ready to kill myself are you kidding me who have you served lately we don't we don't preach about this too much nobody's writing songs about this too much there's no poetry about servanthood too much because the devil's done his best to try to just sniff this out of the way and in doing so your pathway to success has been hidden from you and i praise god that he put it on tap is in our heart to say let's let's bring this to the attention of a world changers nation that we in our maturing at home can begin to mature at home in service that their husband begins to serve that wife as unto the lord and that wife begins to serve that husband as unto the lord and those children begin to serve their parents as unto the lord and then they begin to serve their friends and neighbors and other people who are hurt or in need as unto the lord and then you take around you look around and you look at everybody and man it looks like their last and that's when you ought to start shouting because the last shall be first it's the pathway to promotion i tell you jesus is saying this is the way it should be done look at matthew chapter 20. in matthew chapter 20 i was going to read verse 27 but i want to read 26-28 matthew 20 26-28 i'm so excited about this series because it has awakened some things on the inside of me i pray the same thing will happen to you that i can't i can't get on this pulpit i'm supposed to be serving you with the gospel and i can't half do this i've got to be at my best and at my best is to understand how not to just prepare a message but to prepare me to be able to minister it to you he said this in 26-28 but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your servant or your minister verse 27 and who whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant 28 even as the son of man came not to be served or ministered unto to but to minister or to serve and to give his life he gives life he gives his life his life who have you given your life to he gives us life taffy and i have given our whole life to god to the kingdom to the people of god this coming summer it might be 40 years i've been in servanthood you just got to understand the number of times that we pastors want to quit tired of hearing this or that or going through this or that but quitting is not an option because our life has already been given you see jesus gave his life as a ransom as a payment for all of the judgment and the curse that was to come on us because of our sin he gave up his life hadn't sinned hadn't done anything wrong to anybody at least i can dedicate my life to the one that gave up his and allow the ministry of jesus to continue to work in my life and in your life look at verse 27 and nlt verse 26 and 27 in nlt and i'll i close right here he said but among you it will be different whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant now he's talking about if you look amongst yourself just like the disciples did among you who will be the leader see i'm gonna tell you who taffy and i we were we are people who were amongst the congregation serving amongst the congregations serving and that servanthood moved us from servant to pastor to serve in that capacity oh beware of appointing a guy who doesn't understand the pathway to greatness and leadership i mean why appoint somebody a leader when you've never seen service whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant you're not a leader because you got revelation and you sound good and you enjoy yourself preaching in front of the mirror are you kidding me any minister that gets on a pulpit and is not a servant doesn't deserve to be the leader look at verse 27 now whoever wants to be first among you must become and he uses the word slave now that freaked me out when i first saw that slave hold on a minute you know no he used the word slave here and i looked up and i saw all these people he used the word slave here not not as it was taken out in the days of slavery where somebody would oppress you and tell you you got to serve them and you know what oppression is it's stopping you from determining your future it's taking the hope of your future away from you that certainly is not what he's talking about here that's that's certainly not what he's talking about here he's talking about being that servant who's willing to say you know what by my choice i choose to serve you lord as my master i want to close with this story i heard years ago of a is back in the days where they literally used to put people on an auction block and would sell them into slavery which was wrong there's no scripture in the bible that justifies that and anybody that takes that out out of context is it's wrong i'm just telling you okay god doesn't want us to control other people or dominate other people or none of that you know when you when you desire to be superior to other people it's because you can't control your own emotions he never intended that that was never his intent slavery is wrong and i don't care how you try to justify it it's wrong to take any person and try to dominate that person oppress that person um [Music] and to enter that person into a lifetime of of of servant to that's wrong it didn't even start off that way i mean the whole system started off with a form of payment you know i owe you some money so i ain't got no money so i'll agree to serve you for two months or something like that and wicked people got in and did some crazy stuff but it ain't never right i just want to make sure you understand where i stand on that but there's a story about a guy who's at an auction block during the time of of slavery and there was this uh this woman who was being auctioned off and the guy in the back kept bidding for her and somebody else beat against him and he kept bidding now all of a sudden the bid got very expensive and this guy wouldn't stop and the amount was like never heard of to be that much and he just kept bidding and kept bidding and kept bidding and all and and then he eventually won the bid at a great price he prayed played a great price for this this woman this slave and when that auction was over with her papers were delivered to him he took the paper signed it over and gave it to her and said you're now free and she was just blown away like what he said you're free she said do you understand the price that you pay he said yeah i paid that price for you so you can go free doesn't it sound like jesus that he paid a price for us that was so great just to set us free free to do what's right and so as she was walking away with her freedom papers she stopped in her tracks and she looked back and she said wow and came back to him and said for anyone that would pay that price for me so i can be free i willingly will serve you for the rest of my life i heard that that just blew my mind because that's exactly what jesus did for us he paid a price that was so great that i would willingly serve him for the rest of my life he took upon my sins he died and went to hell so i don't have to die and go to hell i willingly serve you for the rest of my life so far it's been 40 years of my life and i look forward to serving him another 40. i'm going to serve god come hell the high water and hell has come and so has high water i'm not going to quit i'll serve him so don't get mad at me when you see the blessings on my life don't wonder how it happened i'm telling you how it happens and god says i will bless you for doing this to one another let's pray father we we thank you today and we ask that you will anoint this series [Music] that some that showed up today [Music] were mad but you turned it into gladness some were sad you turn it into happiness some mad still mad and it'll take them a couple of days or two but you're still working on them but i pray that there will be a revival of servanthood in the body of christ that we put down our pride our ego [Music] and we submit and humble ourselves to you my master my my lord and my savior and i give you praise right now who is like unto thee oh god nobody nobody we could have lost our mind a long time ago but because of you and your word and your spirit we give you praise now god give confirmation to what i have preached let this become real in the lives of thousands yeah even millions that through the pathway of service we can see a lot a lot of things turned around i give you praise for it now jesus name now if you're here and you want to be born again you're saying you know what i want to give my life to god i didn't know he paid that for me he did jesus came to save the whole world and jesus paid the ransom for not just people in church but for the whole world but you have to you know again access that word comes up you have access to this if you take it you're not born again and you'd like to give your heart to jesus today why don't you repeat this pray after me say heavenly father i realize that i'm a sinner but right now i repent of all of my sins i make you my lord and my savior i believe that my sins have been forgiven jesus come into my heart be my lord and my savior and so right now i declare by faith that i am saved and jesus is my lord thank you father in jesus name amen now if you just prayed that prayer of salvation with me today if you can just text the key word i'm saved that's one word to 51555. provide your name and email address and we'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today and welcome welcome to the family of god amen praise god well let's complete our worship today you remember i began to teach on on giving as a part of your worship and and that your worship is always going to be incomplete without the giving portion i tell you what your giving should cause you to remember all of the goodness and the things that god has done into your life your giving should cause you to have a flashback about all the goodness and i pray in jesus name that as you give today you know somebody asked me one time well can that be a service absolutely you can serve god with your talents you can serve god with your gifts you can serve god with your money your giving is service i mean when you give to to your ministries and to certain mysteries your that money is used to serve people absolutely amen that's why i take it so serious it's like praise god i can't never repay god i can't ever even think about trying to do what god's done for me but oh man if i can take my finances that i spent my time and sometimes my sweat i thank god that in jesus name i can sow it in the kingdom as service to the ministry and people in the things of god and so this morning if you're giving uh through the text you can text world changers space and then the amount to 74483 you can call the number one eight six six four seven seven seven six eight three you get somebody to assist you there or we can go to the mail system 2500 burdette road college park georgia 303 49. and then finally you can give on the web worldchanges.org or creflomcdollarministries.org you can give there and use your paypal as well we are grateful and thankful that the god of all grace is shining upon your life as you gain this revelation of giving to god for what he has already done in celebration for what he has done and we thank god for that in jesus name amen well as you continue to send your offerings in let's go to our announcements this morning and uh pay very close attention and i'll be right back for the benediction [Music] thank you for joining us today now we can't do what we do without you you are part of our reason for being now we trust that all is well with you at your house and that your needs are being met we appreciate you so stay tuned right here for the latest happenings and events ladies you're in for a treat next month now join radical women's ministry and special guest christine kane on march 19th at 7 p.m for our march women's fellowship that's right tune in and invite a friend to receive an on-time word you won't forget set your reminders now as we prepare the fellowship with women from all over the world online now we can't wait to see you online on march 19th at 7 pm via world changers church facebook page or taffy dollars youtube page you can visit taffydollar.org for more information all right guys jesus i have to talk to everyone oh it's pastor alyssa oh come on hey how are you good good good thanks for having me back again i've just got to say thank you to everyone okay okay okay listen i just want to say thank you to everyone who texted me to find out about our junior high live services if you're in the sixth through eighth grade this live service is for you but parents i need to talk to you first text me send the message junior high to two four two five one that's j r h i g h two two four two five one so that your son or daughter is ready to stream live on our services or march 7th okay baca thank you so much for letting me come by of course it's going to be amazing every wednesday and friday at 10 o'clock a.m our college park campus hosts a community food giveaway now we thank god for the opportunity to make a difference in this community so make plans to stop by and we look forward to serving you and your family while supplies last we are celebrating 35 years of service all year long now in honor of our 35 years of ministry the changing your world e-store wants to celebrate you that's right we're having a sale so from february 1st through march 5th enjoy 35 off select items you can choose from amazing products like radical apparel winning in troubled times finding rest in jesus and so much more so visit cyw estore.com and shop while supplies last all right world changers as we wrap up today don't be shy leave your comments and testimonies on facebook instagram or twitter now stay involved with the world changers family now don't forget you can always find information at worldchanges.org or call us at 770-210-5700 with any immediate concerns so you have a great week and we'll see you soon [Music] well god bless all of you today we pray that god's richest and best will continue to be yours as you seek him first and um you know if you don't don't have any down days what is that you say no more down days no more sad days and uh lift yourself up set your thermostat and let's believe god today well now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen have an amazing day we'll see you tomorrow morning for our time of confession

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 35,852

Rating: 4.9165912 out of 5

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: V_-i32u9u-Y

Length: 70min 47sec (4247 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021