Serve Lovingly
Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 20 May 2007 09:51
Jesus came as One who served and anointed His followers to "now go and do likewise." According to Jesus, we are God's servants. We were created for good works.
In Ephesians 2:8-10, the Apostle Paul tells us:
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith?and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. [italics added]
We were made to serve.
Small Group Study
Icebreaker: What is the ring tone on your cell phone? What does it say about you? If you don’t have a ring tone what would you want as your ring tone?
Worship: Read Psalm 116 and thank God for the chains He has freed you from and the benefits that He has bestowed on you.
Edification time:
- How have you been served in the past and how did the service affect you?
- How does Total acceptance lead to handing out authentically? How does hanging out authentically lead to us serving lovingly?
- Is it easer for you to serve or be served? Why?
- What do you think Jesus meant in Matthew 5:13-15 about us losing our saltiness and putting our light under a bowl? How have you done that?
- What does serving (good deeds) have to do with Sharing God?s love with others?
- Philippians 2:5-9 Jesus declares His nature, His identity, how does that that nature show itself out in Jesus? life?
- Ed Said the fact that we are ?servants of God? is a matter of identity. Have you answered the identity questioning your life? How do you know?
- Is there a need in a friend or co-worker that you know God wants you to serve, or for us as a group to meet?
Find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it
Out focus time: pray for each other that God would open our eyes to see the needs an hurts around us.