Pastor David's Serving Challenge

Hello and welcome back to Celebration Baptist Church's Live Boldly podcast.

I'm Jessica and today we are concluding our week on serving with a challenge from Pastor David.

Pastor David, you mentioned in your challenge and the Live Boldly magazine that serving isn't just a way to meet momentary needs.

It's also a critical way of influencing others.

What a statement.

Can you elaborate on that a little bit for us?

Yeah, absolutely.

Think about the people, uh Jessica, that have had the greatest impact on your life.

Odds are overwhelming that the people who've had the greatest impact on your life are the folks who've actually done the most for you.

Yeah.

So you think about your parents, you think about your grandparents, you think about that school teacher or whoever it is, the people that have had the greatest impact on you are the people who came alongside you when you needed somebody.

Yes.

And I think that's the value of serving.

When you make the decision that you're going to give of your time and give of your energy, give of your effort to meet somebody else's need, that is where we have real impact.

And if you think back to moments in church life where something really affected you, it was probably when you saw someone who was serving at a high level or at great cost themselves or in a way that was incredibly selfless.

And you left that moment having seen that service, just being incredibly impressed.

Not very long ago, we had a funeral at uh a celebration, and a young man volunteered in our tech ministry.

And I watched the way he served, and he's running around in the back, and then we had a couple of challenges, but he's pulling wires, he's doing some fairly physical things, and he's just sweating like crazy, all to serve this family that he doesn't even know.

And it made a huge impact on me.

I was so blessed by watching this guy work so hard to serve people that were for him were total strangers.

I think that's the way that serving works.

That is how we we find uh real impact in the lives of other people.

Yeah, serving definitely has impacted my life, especially our tech people.

I love those people.

Um you spent part of your life though serving as a missionary.

So, how did that affect you and your view on serving?

Yeah, I think the greatest thing that uh I learned in serving in Ethiopia and in Zambia was the impact that Ethiopians and Zambians had on me and the way they served.

So, you know, you're talking about folks who very often don't have a lot of resources.

You know, they're uh I mean by global standards, they're struggling with uh the influences of poverty, of malnutrition, you you name it.

And yet folks who really would have every reason to not serve you, but expect to be served by you because their needs are so great, those very people would do anything in the world for you.

And it was one of the most humbling uh and uh instructive things I think I've ever been around.

I mean, when you have someone who's serving you at that level or serving someone else at that level, it just really moves you.

And I saw that happen again and again with some of the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ that we had in places like Ethiopia.

That's awesome.

See, I'm somebody who wants to serve and I want to get involved, but missions or a mission trip isn't for me.

What are some ways that I can serve here at Celebration?

I think the first thing that you ought to do when you're thinking about how do I serve is to ask yourself, well, what do I love to do?

You know, the old adage, you know, if you're doing what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.

That that is really true, and it's also true of serving.

You know, I can go and volunteer to serve in our church in any number of ways, but if they're not a good fit for me, I might be able to do that for a week or two.

You know, maybe even for several weeks, but what keeps me going is that I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, right?

It's like, okay, I'm I'm stepping into a gap here because I see there's a need and and I want to be of help, but I also know that I'm gonna have to do this for three weeks or whatever it is.

I think that if we're gonna really get engaged, then we need to ask ourselves, well, where did God make us?

Or how did God make us and what did he make us to do, and where does he intend us to serve?

So I think that what I would say to folks is take that first step of just going out to team celebration and let them know that you're interested, that you're willing to take a step in serving.

It's a step of obedience, and it's a step that you anticipate taking with a lot of joy.

Uh and just let them know that.

Get signed up, go through the application process, you've there's some hoops that you have to jump through.

We require all of our volunteers to have a background check and all of that kind of thing.

And then choose a place to serve.

Now, if you're not sure where to serve, if that's something that it's like, well, I don't really have that talent, that talent, that talent, or that ability, or that interest, then you can always just start by serving a special event.

You know, for example, uh the car show uh is a is a great one.

You know, that's a huge event that we do on our campus, and it's one of those things that's a one and done.

So you come, you serve for the day or for part of the day, and then you're finished.

So it's a it's not an open-ended commitment.

And it gives it you a chance to meet a lot of people, and then that may be a way for you to begin to dial in and say, hey, I really like those folks.

I want to be around those people, and you begin to serve in that way.

Uh we've got a lot of opportunities to serve in our community.

Uh, some of those are ongoing, others are short-term, like for example, season of compassion.

Yes.

We've got lots of things, ways that you can serve the local community through season and compassion.

So that's a way that you can do missions right here in Tallahassee.

Doesn't require you to go overseas, and it just gives you a great way to make a real impact on people.

Some folks have the gifts and the talents and experience to do things like serving in church leadership on a committee as a deacon, you know, those kinds of things.

If those are areas that you're interested in, then uh when you go to team celebration, let them know that.

It may be there's some that you're ready to serve right away, it may be there's some developmental steps that you would need to take.

But explore those opportunities and see what's available to you.

So, what would you say to challenge and encourage people to push them to take the next step in their serving journey?

First and foremost, remember that Christ came to serve us.

Yes.

And so if if our goal is to be more like Christ, I don't see how we get there if we don't think about serving in some way.

It's just a part of being a Christ follower.

And I don't say that to put guilt or to put pressure in that way on us.

I I put that out there as a as a frankly as a real joy.

Because it gives me a specific target that I can shoot for if you want.

If I think about, hey, I want to be more like Christ, what can I do?

Well, one of the things I can do is serve.

And so I would uh just lay that out there in front of our folks.

I would say, man, as you're thinking about ways that you can get engaged, think of it as this is a chance for me to demonstrate Christ to people who need me to use my gifts, talents, and abilities to help them.

Pastor David, thank you for taking the time to encourage us and challenge us today.

To all of our listeners, don't forget, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

There you'll be able to keep up with our Live Boldly sermon series and explore other things that are happening in our church as well as service opportunities.

Pastor David, would you close us in prayer today?

I'd be delighted to.

Lord, thanks for letting us have the chance to serve.

It's a tremendous pleasure to be able to do so.

Gives us a chance to sort of set aside our own self-focus for a little bit and invest in other people and to show others the love of Christ.

So, Lord, help us to pick up the challenge of serving the way that you've served us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor David.

Tomorrow we begin a new week focused on giving.

We'll see you then.