[0:00] Amen. Amen.
[0:43] Got it now, I think. You got it. Thanks. Yeah, apparently it takes an army.
[0:55] Our Philippians chapter 1, verses 1 to 7 says, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1:16] I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making requests with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart and as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, be all our partakers of my grace.
[1:53] Go ahead before we continue, we'll go ahead and do a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we just thank you, God, for this day you've given us, Lord. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy and your love.
[2:05] Just thank you for each one that's here, Lord, and you put on their heart to come here, Lord, to hear the message you have, not just for them, but for me as well, Lord. And Father, just ask you to humble our hearts to just listen to what you have for us, the message you have for us, Lord, and just help me, Lord, as you know, with my sty in my eye.
[2:26] And I just pray you'd help me just to read clearly and just help me to preach boldly, Lord, in love and help us to really, truly understand the grasp of service to our Savior and what that looks like.
[2:42] And so the others can see that as well and they could see you, Lord, and they'd know you as a Lord and Savior as well. And just thank you so very much, Lord, for what you're going to do in our hearts and lives now.
[2:54] Open our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. And of course, mentioning about my eye, I promise my wife does not beat me. I feel like I've been pretty beaten down this whole week.
[3:06] My toe injury and then my finger injury and then now my eye. So if I slur a little bit or whatever or get fumbled up, it's really that eye.
[3:17] So I want to talk about this morning, dangers of contentment outside of Christ. I know last time we talked about the contentment that we can have in Christ in all circumstances.
[3:33] But on the other side, there can be dangers in contentment outside of Christ that can lead to spiritual complacency and a false sense of security as it may cause one to rely on worldly possessions, achievements, and for our glory rather than God's glory.
[3:51] This really resonates with me as a deacon, which is really just a fancy word for saying servant. I love in verse 1, Philippians 1, where it says that Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
[4:15] To be honest, I really struggled with the act of obedience to service because I really thought that before I was to serve, I would need to be more qualified, whatever that means, for the calling.
[4:33] But God sometimes calls the unqualified, not always the qualified, but to equip those, to equip us that are unqualified for his calling.
[4:46] When I think about it, it really was my pride. Without saying it, I was really just saying, I don't trust you, God, at this moment to use me where I am and for who I am.
[4:58] I would think to myself that I wouldn't have time, but really if I am honest, I am really just putting a time limit on God. How much time does God need to preach a sermon through one of his faithful servants?
[5:14] How much time does God need to do whatever it is that he is calling every single one of us to do? We can't, God is certainly not defined by time, space, or matter.
[5:28] We all are learning as we live this life because the day we stop learning is the day we stop living. But I do specifically remember questioning so much if God was calling me or not to continue preaching or to serve him in the way that he saw fit.
[5:45] I remember a woman asking me if I was going to keep preaching and I said, Lord willing, if that's what God wants me to do. The woman said to me, and I could tell she frantically was cautious about telling me, she said, Jared, just keep trusting God.
[6:05] The woman not realizing how much it meant to me for her to tell me what the Lord put on her heart to say. When she said that to me, it hit me like a ton of bricks at the verge of weeping because I was not trusting God.
[6:19] And no one truly wants to hear that. But I am so thankful to God that I did hear it because in essence, God was telling me to just keep trusting me as you serve me.
[6:31] You see, when it comes down to service with our Savior, with the Lord, it's not about us. Right? It's about what he wants to do through us.
[6:44] It's if we are willing to have a servant's heart to say, God, here I am. Use me in whatever way that you see fit. And it's not always easy.
[6:54] But God will certainly give us the strength and humble us to do what he calls us to do.
[7:05] My first point this morning is dangers of contentment in service. It's always encouraging to talk about the rewards one can gain from service.
[7:16] But Scripture always tells us the sobering truth that there are dangers of service built upon pride. If our service is built upon pride, then it is not true service because we are serving sin and not the Savior.
[7:31] In Proverbs 16, 18 to 20, it says this, Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
[7:43] Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. He that handleth the matter wisely shall find good and whoso trusteth in the Lord happy is he.
[7:58] I love this. He says, Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly. There's so much going on around us that we really can have that self-pride thinking that we are better than someone else.
[8:12] That is so not the case. I love how God looks at every single one of us as not more special than anyone else. He looks at us as his creation and if you are believing the Lord Jesus Christ today, he looks at you as a child of his.
[8:31] But neither one of those is really better than the other in God's eyes. I truly believe God loves us all equally. Of course he does because that's why he died on the cross and rose again for us.
[8:44] There is no better act of service or love that ever can be shown. But it is such a danger to come to any situation no matter what it is.
[8:57] Like I talked about in the world there's so much pride but we can have that pride too thinking that we know what's best or go about things in the wrong way. But to have a humble spirit saying God use me.
[9:15] It's so often like I loved what Brother Dana mentioned this morning how people look at us as Christians us as followers and believers of the Lord Jesus Christ and they say that we hate people that don't line up with what God's word says.
[9:33] But we really need to tell them and ask ourselves how in the world could I hate those that God's given me a heart for? And that really does come down to having that servant's heart.
[9:47] Be willing to look at that person and say okay you are where you are right now. There's nothing that I can simply do to change you. There's nothing I can do to change your mind because only God changes the heart only God changes the mind.
[10:00] What happened? Why are you where you are? And there's many times in the scriptures that God goes to people and they get to their heart not that we know the heart but can God not reveal their heart through us by just trusting God?
[10:16] I think too much we put too much faith in ourselves as we serve the Lord and it really needs to be just solely on God and just allow him to work in and through you for his glory.
[10:31] and just handling any matter like it says in Proverbs 20 he that handles the matter wisely shall find good and to whoso trusts in the Lord happy is he.
[10:43] We will truly be happy if we handle the matter wisely from the word of God. Part of serving the Lord in fact serving is in fact serving others and sometimes serving others is very difficult and even dangerous because of the prideful world we live in and we are prideful ourselves at times.
[11:05] The world tells us to be careful but really we need to not be content with the corruption but instead we need to caution others in the world we live in even Christ's church with compassion.
[11:19] I've been accused before of not having compassion for my brother Dana was talking about this morning it's funny how it's all tying together the LGBTQ community and just all of these different things that people are struggling with I've been accused of not having compassion for them but just because someone doesn't see it as compassion it does not mean that it's not compassion just because it looks different just because it doesn't line up with other people's beliefs but just like if someone was in the middle of the road and there was a giant truck coming we really should caution we really should warn those people that are going down this very destructive path that really leads to death and we can do it in a loving way and we can do it in a way that really sows the heart of God and not in a private way again thinking that we are better and try to attack their thoughts or beliefs or their ideas or opinions and I was told
[12:36] I was accused of not be compassionate for people's feelings but faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ is not based upon feelings it's based upon fact the fact is that God loves us all he loves us all so much that he shed his blood died on the cross rose again and ascended to heaven for every single one of us and I love it because when I talk to inmates in the jail and they say well I'm not too concerned about Jesus Christ because I'm Native American or I'm black or I'm you name it but praise God it doesn't matter what you've done who you are what race you are it does not matter God died and rose again for everybody and that true hope is here today for anyone James 4 3-7 said ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lust so even when we do ask we're asking God of our own thoughts and opinions or ideas our own wants and desires instead of having our request to
[13:54] God be lined up with what his word says in the scriptures ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God see as believers in Jesus Christ we can't be cursing on Saturday and come in the church in the service on Sunday praising God with that same mouth I've heard a lot of people say well no I'm I'm a Christian here in a church service but when I'm in the world or I'm at work that's a different entire place if Christ is living within us then that means wherever we're serving for the Lord Christ is with us so it does not matter the situation if Christ is with us no matter what we're doing we should live our lives for Christ so that light of
[14:55] Christ can shine through do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble in every situation that we're in and I believe like brother David talked about this morning there will be more and more difficult situations to deal with that do not line up with scripture whatsoever but if we are willing!
[15:25] humble ourselves and ask God for grace and you're going to be asking God for more grace because you're going to need more grace every single moment we're going to need more and more of God's grace submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will free from you we're submitting ourselves to God we can't be submitting ourselves to our wants and desires at the same time it doesn't go hand in hand it's one or the other and his word clearly promises that if we resist the devil he will flee from us in chapter four of James scripture warns us of the dangers of contentment with conflicts with Christ's church as well and explaining the importance of humility and depending on God the scripture also warns us of how selfish desires prayerlessness bring about strife and internal struggles because if we are just content with the conflict and struggles and not submit to
[16:28] God and to not ask God to humble us and to not ask God to give us wisdom and to not ask God to give us more grace then the conflict becomes chaos self-righteous service comes through human effort true service comes from a relationship with the divine self-righteous service is impressed with the big deal true service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service self-righteous service requires external rewards true service rest contented in hiddenness self-righteous service is highly concerned about results true service is free of the need to calculate results self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve true service is indiscriminate in its ministry self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims true service ministers simply and faithfully!
[17:21] because there is a need self-righteous service is temporary true service is a lifestyle self-righteous service fractures community true service on the other hand builds community is a quote from Richard Foster the discipline of service Franklin Roosevelt's closest advisor during much of his presidency was a man named Harry Hopkins during World War II when his influence with Roosevelt was at its peak Hopkins held no official cabinet position moreover excuse me moreover Hopkins closeness to Roosevelt caused many to regard him as a shadowy sinister figure as a result he was a major political liability to the president a political foe once asked Roosevelt why do you keep Hopkins so close to you you surely realize that people distrust him resent his influence Roosevelt replied someday you may well be sitting here where I am now as president of the
[18:23] United States and when you are you'll be looking at that door over there and knowing that practically everybody who walks through it wants something of you you'll learn what a lonely job this is and you'll discover the need for somebody like Harry Hopkins who asked for nothing except to serve you Winston Churchill rated Hopkins as one of the half dozen most powerful men in the world in the early 1940s and the sole source of Hopkins power was his willingness to serve letter A this morning if you're writing down notes are we serious about service I'm actually going to go to Matthew chapter 20 if you would with me please and we're going to start at verse 20 and go to 28 then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her with her sons excuse me worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him and he said unto her what will thou she saith unto him grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy kingdom but Jesus answered and said ye know not what ye ask are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with they say unto him we are able and he saith unto them ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father and when the ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the two brethren but
[20:40] Jesus called them called them unto him and said ye know that the but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many we talked about earlier this morning of course baptism is going to taste place and that's another it's a service for the act of obedience to the Lord so many people will tell you it's to cleanse your sins it's to do this it's to save you to do that that's not what the scriptures speak and it's not what the scriptures teach but yes we will there are some things
[21:43] I've heard it before they say that we are supposed to be Christ like but not like Christ as in there are things that yes we will do things that the Lord calls us to do and it will be like Christ but some things are just not for us they're not for his purpose and plan they're simply for him and that's that's that's where we should be thankful for and we should be content just knowing that he has a purpose plan in place even if we don't understand it sometimes but really with this situation with the mother it was really an unknown ask to grant that request for her son James and John and really there are times that we really do ask things of God that are really don't line up with his will and his word and it can be very dangerous I've heard of people say I can't serve God this way or do this or do that
[22:43] I'm just not a good enough Christian I really I have a few questions what in the world makes a Christian good and what makes what we do for Christ good the only thing that's good none of us are good no not one the scriptures tell us clearly in Romans but God is good that lives within us so therefore for trusting him to do the work through us it will be good and not just good for other people around you and people that don't know Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior but good for us as well for his glory I've heard it before too that we won't do certain things for matters of service to the Lord because we don't want people to see us we don't we have certain things in our life that we just don't want to let go and trust me if anyone understands that
[23:50] I definitely do I don't like standing up here this pulpit with all of you watching me I don't not a fan at all but it's not about me it's not about us again it's what God does through us there's a danger with being content with serving self and not serving others self says I'm going to serve to get what I want whether it be power or status only to save time money or resources for self not thinking about spending those things on others or thinking of others at all thinking that we should be served instead of us serving but we need to really ask!
[24:38] What is truly keeping us from truly having a servant's heart enough to serve the Lord in the way that he sees fit? If God can do anything he can certainly use us to serve him in the way that he sees deemed.
[24:58] And no service is too big or too small to God. All service to God is important. It is just as important for someone to take offering than it is for a pastor to come out here and preach the word.
[25:11] Every single position, every single calling that God has, every single one of us is important. Not one is more important than the other. God and I love God. We should not be content with just saying that someone else will do it and someone else can do it better than me.
[25:30] When we say those things, we are saying, God, you can't change me. We are simply, if we're honest, if we're honest with ourselves and with God, and we're humble, we're loud and humble ourselves, we're saying, God, you can't change me.
[25:44] You can't change me and who it is you want to change me to do this act of service you want me to do. That's a very dangerous place and I've been there myself. We were saved to serve the Savior of our soul that saved us from sin.
[26:01] Go back to Philippians. I wanted to touch a little bit on back in Philippians chapter 1 3 to 7. I was praying tricks on me.
[26:38] I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
[27:01] So okay do we have there is a danger of just not being content in the fact that having that confidence that God can work in us right can do whatever his work is that he called us to do from the beginning even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel he all are partakers of my grace there is a danger of being content and with not being thankful to God for the work he is doing in our lives and through other people and remembering one another because if you don't remember one another you don't think about serving one another one of the beautiful things to me if you really think about who it is that you this person who you're praying to when someone tells you I'm praying for you I'm here for you what do but if we remember one another as brothers sisters in
[28:08] Christ wow that has a totally different meaning than just remembering each other for who they are but remembering that we're a family of God and we should be there for one another letter B are we serious about sin and we don't need to go there but in 1 Timothy 6 chapter 6 verse 6 9 to 11 but godliness with contentment is great gain but they that will be rich fall in temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lust which drown men in destruction and perdition I've seen it so many times that people be in this situation of whether it be power whether it be money or whatever it is!
[28:57] this great big thing even at times we think that everything that we have is from God now don't get me wrong God can certainly provide and meet those always provide to meet the needs and he can give people those things they never thought they would even have or deserve but there are times that there are things that we have that are certainly not even from God it's from our own wants or desires we can like it talks about in the scriptures that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare into many foolish and hurtful lust which drown men in destruction and perdition we think it's just because we have it and it's good it's from God but if we really think about it can Satan himself not disguise things to make them look good after all he is the most beautiful most powerful angel that
[30:02] God ever created so I think it's become bit of us if you will to take that sin seriously to make sure that it is from God and not from the wicked one for the love of money is the root of all evil I've heard many people mispronounce the scripture where they say the love of money is all evil so money is just no good basically it's to the point that money is useless but money I love the thing about how God uses money it's very balanced it really can be used for good and it can be used for evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows but thou man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness there's a danger!
[31:08] of contentment when we are not serious enough about sin because if we don't flee the things that are keeping us from being faithful then we will continue to follow those things that are keeping us from being faithful and if we do not remove the temptation of sin we can certainly fall into sin that leads to destruction!
[32:26] as God is God my witness and I talk about it with Angela too but I definitely don't ever want to come to this pulpit talking bad or talking down to anybody that is not my calling my purpose and my plan for this that the Lord wants to use me to do but in the same sense I told them and I'm not saying anything I haven't told them!
[32:52] I said I'm just so concerned that you said that just for the simple fact that there is so much scripture that's contradictory to the book of Mormon and just the fact that itself the Holy Bible the book of Mormon it's just a book I'm told the Bible is just a book it's like no it's different it's inspired God breathed God doesn't say he's the same yesterday and today and forever as his word says so he's not going to say oh this is my word just kidding actually there's more to my word here we have to be so careful to make sure that we know the word of God is the word of God but one of the things he told me I said well what what makes you truly believe the Book of Mormon and he said well I had a vision and I was like okay just I had a vision that God gave me I don't care what you say anyone says I have a vision that
[33:52] God gave me and he told me there's more that is more to what what more is there to God God is above all and he is all in all so God certainly does not have he's not more he's he's everything someone very dear to me told me I would always think about how I would put God first and everything in my life put God first but instead of looking at putting God first let's look at him putting him in the center put him in the core of everything that you do because everything else around you will fall into place Luke 4 6 to 8 12 to 13 and the devil said unto him all this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever
[34:54] I will I give it you know it made me think about that conversation that I had with my Mormon friend he just said well I know God gave me this vision and I asked him can Satan not give visions!
[35:06] too? and we talked about the power that he has as well not that I'm trying to give Satan all the power but in the same sense I've seen it so many times that people claim this and that and I truly just struggle with the fact that could Satan really not put these visions or these thoughts and ideas and opinions in people's heads are doing it every day every moment that we're breathing because of people in the situations are in we can know that just by looking at the world we can know that there's people being deceived and we even ourselves can be deceived we're not above that if thou therefore will worship me all shall be thine and Jesus answered and said unto him get thee behind me Satan for it is written thou!
[35:51] shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou! serve and when the devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season there is a danger of contentment thinking that Satan can't tempt us because if Satan can tempt Jesus he can certainly tempt us it is important that we make sure through the scriptures that whatever we are doing is for the Savior and not sin it is important to remember that Satan tempts!
[36:26] us when we are at our weakest because God's strength is made perfect in our weakness like Jesus we too can shoo Satan for a season by standing on the scriptures as we serve our sovereign God no matter what service God is calling us to do we certainly can trust God and trust that he will give us the strength through the scriptures to serve him in the way he sees fit for God created us on purpose for his purpose and plan we are certainly not an accident every day that we face the spiritual battle we always need to have the sword of the spirit in our hand sharpened ready to slice through all that sin that we struggle with now this morning this message has been more for those that are believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ but there may be some!
[37:22] that are listening that may have not heard of the Savior Lord Jesus Christ so you may not know what sin is or that you sin or that you may not know the difference of serving the Savior or sin I promise you that God did the greatest service for you and is the greatest example of service when he left heaven to be born sinless of the virgin birth of Mary and to be a servant and even leading up to his shed blood and sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from his death on the cross for all our sin and ascension to heaven and by faith alone!
[38:00] that the Lord Jesus Christ did that for you for your sin so that you could be forgiven of your sin and would not be separated from God for all eternity in hell but have a personal relationship with God now and forever for all eternity and have a home in heaven forever with the Lord Jesus Christ and all of those that have ever believed on the Lord Jesus Christ especially as we go into leading up to Christmas and things I just think about just the fact of what he left and what he did for us especially in Christmas time it's amazing how the most hopeful the most joyful the most miraculous time of year is really the most destructive
[39:01] I guess if you will but also the most depressing and scared and depressive time of year as well but I stand before you this morning just reminding you and reminding myself that in Christ we can be complete in him we can have true hope we talked about there's so much in the world that can deter us from realizing or remembering that we have that hope in Christ but he is our true hope and we certainly can be complete in him and I do just hope that from this we can learn that service is not about ourselves that we need to take it seriously but we can also have fun and we can enjoy and enjoy one another and have joy doing the service that God calls us to do and I would just ask that you would pray for me specifically and that for all of us would serve the Lord in the way that he sees fit but do it with joy having a servant's heart heavenly father we just thank you