Service // LEVEL UP | Ps. Matthew Francey

because we're ending our series today

also called level up and over these last

few weeks I've been on holiday and

getting to visit other churches but it's

always great to be home and while we

were off seeing family and my parents

are doing a clear out so I moved out 10

years ago and their thought is if it's

still in our house 10 years later you

don't need it so they're trying to clear

everything out and part of that was my

PlayStation 2 and I was I was asked to

take it home. So, I couldn't just take

it home and just keep it in a box. I had

to take it home and plug it in. Uh, so I

got to play some old school PlayStation

2 games, some James Bond and some FIFA

and some WWE

and it's been amazing. The weird thing

is the the console, the controller has a

cable on it. I haven't had a cable in

years and you have to stay so close to

the TV. And we've obviously been looking

at this idea of leveling up looking at

different movie or different games uh

especially Mario. But the idea and the

question behind this series is what does

it look like to grow in our devotion to

God? What does it look like to get

closer to God and grow in him? And as we

said, we've been using this Mario

analogy, this leveling up. Once Mario

hits that mushroom, he levels up. He

gets bigger and helps him face what's

coming ahead. And I don't know what

you're going to face in the next few

months until the end of the year, but

something will happen. And as we level

up, it will help us live out our life

and face the challenges that are going

to come our way. And it helps us. So as

we grow, whatever is coming our way, it

gives us a better chance. And it's not

just us that want to get to the next

level. We all want to grow. We all want

to take ourselves to the next level. But

God wants us to grow. God wants us to

get closer to him. Because to grow near

to God, we need to go near to God. And

that's why we've been looking at the

this idea of level up over the last few

weeks cuz the goal this month is to be

in communion with God. This idea of

communion means to share life with God.

So if you're here and you're not a

Christ follower, this is going to give

you an insight of what it looks like to

share life with God and to what it looks

like to be a Christ follower. And this

is the last week, so you've missed three

weeks. And in week one, we looked at the

word, which is the Bible. And if you've

missed any of these, you can find them

on YouTube or our Spotify, Apple

podcast, wherever you listen to podcast,

you can find it there, and you can watch

back and catch up. But week one, we

looked at the word, and so stands for

scripture, observation, application,

prayer, and it's a way that we can

interact with the Bible. Week two, we

looked at worship, and we looked at our

songs to God. Last week, Pastor Lynn

brought a message on prayer,

specifically the Lord's Prayer. And

these are some things that we can add

into our life to help us level up and to

help us have devotion to God. But today

in week four as we close, we're looking

at this idea of service. What does it

look like to serve? And what does

service even mean? And the question

we're going to answer today is how does

service help us level up in life? So to

begin to answer this question, we should

look at what is service? What is the

definition of service? So the definition

online is this. It's an act of helpful

activity. Or another way to say it is

work that benefits others. And we all

know what it is to have good service,

but also to have bad service. Good

customer service, bad customer service.

Whether it's in a restaurant, whether

it's on the phone. I have terrible

customer service with my car insurance

provider. They are terrible. You can't

get in contact with them. You phone them

and then they say, "Press one for this."

So you press one and then they tell you,

"Oh, you can try online and you can find

the answers there." And I was like,

"I've looked online and I can't find the

answers. I want to speak to a person."

So you have to press number three. And

then they tell you again, you can try

online and then you're like, I don't

want to try online. So then you have to

press another answer and they're just

trying to get you away and get AI to

answer it. And then you talk to them and

then they're useless and they don't

help. And we all know that frustration

of terrible service because service is

supposed to be an helpful activity and

they're not helping. Whereas yesterday,

Amazon charged me. So I went online,

chatted to someone on AI bot and then I

said, "Can I talk to someone?" And then

someone within one minute solved my

problem. It was amazing. And we've heard

we felt that in restaurants. What's just

a normal mail out? If someone goes above

and beyond with helpful service, it

becomes something meaningful. So as we

think about that is service, what's the

importance of service? And we've seen

research on volunteering and they found

links between volunteering or another

word that we would use is serving. So

there's a link between volunteering and

improved well-being, self-confidence,

social connection, networks, and skill

development. But this is interesting.

also notes that the benefits to the

volunteer can be as great as or greater

than those experienced by the recipient.

So as we serve, we see that we have

increased well-being, confidence, skill

development, but also we actually

benefit more than the person we're

serving, which is a crazy thing to think

about. And as we think about service,

service is naturally difficult. It's not

something that we all naturally lean

into. Because a lot of life is built

around the question, well, what's in it

for me? What's in it for me? If I'm

going to put my effort, my time, my

energy into something, we all ask the

question whether we're Christ followers

or not. Well, what's in it for me?

Because each and every one of us work

for a salary. We put the work in because

we expect something out of it. We study

for qualifications. We exercise for

results. We go to church because we want

something from God. We always ask the

question, well, what's in it for me?

Because each and every one of us are

inherently selfish. We all think about

me, myself, and I. And it's a condition

of the human nature that we are just

selfish human beings because we all have

dreams and plans for our own life. I

have dreams and desires for my life. I'm

sure you have, too. But those dreams

don't normally involve others. when

we're thinking about our plans, we're

thinking about what I can receive, what

I can get, what my life will look like.

And we never really think about others.

Because I think it's true that it's no

one's dream to be a servant. I don't

think anyone here is dreaming about

being a servant. Because when we think

about the movie Cinderella, none of us

are thinking, oh, I love when she turns

into a princess and she's got all her

beautiful gowns and her glass slipper

and I love that. But I actually prefer

Cinderella the servant. Like how she's

able to clean all the time. How fun. And

she's able to brush up and she's able to

help. Like none of us are thinking I

love I want to be the servant

Cinderella.

Disney aren't going around selling

Cinderella plushies with her maiden

dress on and her sweeping brush. They're

trying to tell us, "No, be the

princess." And like, "Oh, that's that's

not important." And look for leveling

up. And we look at her and we think,

"Well, she leveled up. She was once this

poor servant and now she's this

beautiful princess." But the question

is, what does it actually mean to level

up? Did Cinderella level up when she

became a princess? Or was she just

already who she was? And when we think

about leveling up in life, what do we

think? We probably think more money, a

better job, a bigger house, more

influence, more followers, more

responsibility, a fairy godmother, um

rats that turn into horses. Like, we

think about all these things and that's

how we level up.

But I see this when I read the Bible

that Jesus gives us a different

definition of leveling up. And we're

going to see this through Mark 10 verse

Mark 10:43

43 and 45. And the Bible split into two,

Old and New Testament. And we see in the

New Testament, there's stories about

Jesus. And they're found in the Gospels.

Gospel simply means good news. And we

see four of those gospels, Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. And they record

Jesus's life. And Mark, this is Mark's

account of what Jesus got up to when he

was here on earth. And in this point,

Jesus is with his disciples. And two of

them bring Jesus aside. And we've got

James and John. And they come to Jesus.

Come on over. See, when you get to

heaven, can we like be your right and

left hand man? Can we like sit on the

top of the table with you? Can we be

like the most important people when you

get up there? And like, can we can we

have that role? And Jesus is like, you

don't understand what you're asking for.

And then in his response, he gets

everyone together. gets all his

disciples together after hearing this

request of trying to be important and

trying to be with Jesus and trying to be

his right and left hand man and trying

to be all important. And this is Jesus's

response to his disciples. So he says

this in verse 43. He says, "Any of you

who are listening, anyone who wants to

become great,

well, you must be a servant."

And I'm sure if you were in this TED

talk and there was a TED talk and they

said, "Anyone want to be great in here?"

Everyone's leaning in. And everyone's

got their pen and paper ready. And

everyone, everyone of us want to be

great. I'm sure none of us want to

settle for just being good. I'm sure

each and every one of us strive to want

to be great. So Jesus starts off saying,

"Anyone who wants to be great." And

we're leaning in. And then he says, "You

got to be a servant." And you're like,

"Oh,

great." Like a me, but I want to be a

servant. I don't want to be a servant. I

want to be great. And then he goes on

and says, "Well, whoever wants to be

first."

Yeah, I'll take that. I want to be

first. Like, I if I I'm first, I get the

best. And but I got to be a slave.

Like, that doesn't make sense normally

that if I want to be great, I just make

my p my own path. I kick everyone else

out of the way. I do what I got to do.

But yet, Jesus, you're telling me that

I've got to be a servant and I got to be

a slave. And then Jesus turns it rounds

and turns it around and looks at

himself. And in verse 45 he says, for

even the son of man, which is another

title for Jesus. He said, for even the

son of man did not come to be served. He

was telling them, I didn't come for you

to serve me, but I came to serve you and

more than that to give my life as a

ransom for many. I came here not just to

serve you, but to give my life for you.

And so often we get that mixed round

because we believe that to level up, we

need to be first. We need to be the

greatest. We need to kick everyone on

and move everyone out of the way. But

actually, we don't level up by getting

above people. We level up by lifting

people up. That actually others aren't

an obstacle, but actually it's our

opportunity to lift people up and help

them on their journey as well. And I

want to help us today to level up. So, I

want to give us three ways serving helps

us level up in our life because there's

nothing more frustrating than getting

stuck on a level. I got my old

PlayStation back from my parents as I

said and played uh one of the James Bond

levels and we had a few friends over and

people in the house and I'm trying to

get past this level and I can't do it.

So, I give it to a friend and he can't

do it and give it to someone else and

they can't do it and we're all just

stuck on this level. And you know what?

After a while, I just give up. It's

like, I don't want to move on, and I

can't get past this level, and I don't

want to keep playing this level because

it's boring. And time and time and time

and time and time again. And in life,

we're the same. If we aren't leveling

up, then we just settle. We just decide,

I'll just stay here. Nothing has to

change. I'll stay to what life is like

now. But actually, I want us all to be

encouraged to level up, to take our

faith to the next level, to take our

serving to the next level, and every

aspect of our life to the next level.

Because in that leveling up, we discover

more of the purpose that we have in God.

And we discover more of who God has

called us to be. Maybe you're here and

you're not a Christ follower. Maybe

today is the day. As you level up, you

will discover and you will have eyes to

see and you will have a vision for your

life that God has given you. That you

can see that God has given you a plan

and a future for your life. So the three

ways serving helps us level up in life

is this. The first one is serving is

good for us which is a great start

because we we like things to be good for

us. So serving is good for us and

there's wisdom in this. There's a book

in the Bible called Proverbs and it was

written by King Solomon and God asked

him, "I'll give you whatever you want."

And King Solomon asked for wisdom. So

this wise man wrote down these wise

sayings and we get to read some of them

in Proverbs. And we're going to read

Proverbs 11:25. And this is what King

Proverbs 11:25

Solomon says. He says, "A generous

person will prosper. Whoever refreshes

others will be refreshed."

But if we were to write that and if we

were to think about those words, we

would probably say a generous person

will go broke.

If we keep being generous, if we keep

giving away, then eventually we're going

to go broke. And whoever refreshes

others will get tired. From our point of

view, if we keep giving, if we keep

serving others, we're going to get tired

and we're going to go broke. But the

wisdom of Solomon says something

different. He says, "If you refresh

others, you will be refreshed. As we

serve others, you will receive also."

And this isn't saying that everything's

going to be simple because it doesn't

mean that serving never makes us tired

because serving will cost you something.

We have people here who serve in our

church and it cost them something. It

costs them to get up early. It costs

them to give up maybe overtime. It cost

them to spending time in other places.

It costs us. And we're going to be

tired. They're going to be tired coming

in early. They're going to be tired

listening to this message for the second

time. They're going to be tired having

to stay late and put all these things

away into our container. So, they're

going to be tired, but yet as they

refresh and as they serve, they too will

also be refreshed. So, we can be tired,

but we can also be refreshed at the same

time. Because God designed us in such a

way that giving ourselves away can

actually produce life within us. So that

as our team leave here today, yes, they

may be tired, but they'll be leaving

this place full of life and refreshed,

ready to go for another week. And we

know this idea to be true that giving

ourselves away can produce life because

we have marriage. And marriage is giving

your life away to someone in the highs

and in the lows, for better, for worse,

for richer and poorer, in sickness and

in health. In all the ups and downs of

marriage, we give our life to our spouse

and we serve them and we love them and

we give our all to them

and it's weirdly a joy and we feel

refreshed and we feel like we have life.

But how does that make sense? because

we're giving our everything away. But

yet in giving our all away, we feel

refreshed and we feel life. Because

serving gets our eyes off ourselves. As

we serve, it makes us instead of looking

inward, it makes us look outward.

Because when life comes completely

centered around me, my problems, my

needs, my ambitions, my disappointments,

right, my recognition,

it can be exhausting.

I've got a lot of stuff going on in my

life. I'm busy. I've got cars to

maintain. I've got a family to look

after. I've got a house to look after.

And all these things, if I completely

center my thinking on them, it becomes

exhausting. And I'm sure you've been in

that place where you're exhausted at

thinking of what all the things that you

need to get through.

But serving makes us ask the question,

well, what can I do for somebody else?

And as we ask that question, something

is birthed within us. Because as we

start serving other people and asking

this question, well, what can I do for

someone else? There's humility birthed

within us. There's a compassion that's

birthed within us. There's a purpose

that rises up. There's a gratitude that

we live out and there's character that

is built within us as we take our eyes

off everything that we need to do and

get exhausted by it, but actually

looking outward and seeing how we can

serve others. Because serving isn't

merely something we do for God. Serving

is something God uses to do something in

us.

This is something that God wants to do

in you. God wants you to be refreshed.

God wants to help you.

But as you serve, God will refresh you.

And maybe you're here, maybe the reason

some of us don't want to serve is that

we think we're going to lose something.

that if I give my time, if I give my

energy, if I give my thoughts away, well

then I'm going to miss out. I'm going to

get less.

But actually, in return, we find we get

more. And our excuses could be, well,

I've already got enough on my plate. I'm

already busy. No one appreciates what I

do. What am I going to get out of this?

How am I going to gain from this? What's

in it for me?

But wisdom tells us that whoever

refreshes others will be refreshed. So

even for you when it doesn't make sense,

even for you when it's like what will I

get out of it? You will get out of it.

But you as you refresh others, you too

will be refreshed. Because serving

doesn't change the person being served.

Serving changes the person doing the

serving. We will all change. We will all

be refreshed. We will all prosper. We

will all be blessed when we serve. And

serving isn't only good for us. Serving

is good to others. And this is the

second way we can level up. Serving does

good to others. And this probably makes

the most sense. Like we know that ser we

didn't really understand serving

actually does good to me. But we

probably all understand serving does

does good to others. And maybe you're

here and this is the most natural one

and you understand it. But maybe you're

here and you have the habit, but you

don't have the heart. Maybe you're here

and you understand you need to serve

people. You understand that it's good to

do nice things for other people. And

you're in that rhythm of serving,

but you've forgotten the heart behind

it. You're in the routine that, oh, I

just get up and I'm part of that team

and I don't want to let them down. But

we've forgotten about the heart. And the

heart is always people. It's always

about serving the person. It's not about

fulfilling a role. Well, it's not about

doing a job. It's about serving a

person. And Paul writes about this.

Paul's writing this letter and he's in

prison. And Paul originally hated Jesus

and didn't want anything to do with

Christianity and then had a moment with

him. And his life forever changed. And

as his life changed, he wrote letters to

different churches in different areas.

And this one, he writes to this place

called Philippi. And he's in prison as

he writes it. He's trying to encourage

them and trying to teach them for how to

be a Christ follower. And this is what

he says in Philippians 2 3 and 4. He

says, "Do nothing

out of selfish ambition or fain conceit.

Rather in humility, value others above

yourselves, not looking to your own

interests, but each of you to the

interests of others."

What a head turner. Cuz surely

that Paul had his own plans in mind that

he was once that person who had a plan.

I don't want Jesus's name to be famous.

I don't want these Christians to be

spreading this message. And he was doing

all the things that he could do to stop

this message. And then his life changes

and now he's saying things like, "Don't

do anything out of selfish ambition, but

value others above yourself."

the person who was encouraging the death

of Christians, the person persecuting

the church and now he is at this moment

with Jesus and now you can say in

humility value others above yourself

those that you don't agree with those

that you find difficult to work with

those that you have nothing in common

with in humility value others above

yourself and in this passage Paul isn't

saying we shouldn't have ambition

he is saying don't Make everything about

yourself. I have plans. I have

ambitions. But in those plans and

ambitions, they're not about me. They're

not about what I can get out of life.

It's not about what I can build, but

it's how God can use me to serve others.

Because selfishness asks, well, what do

I want?

What is it that I myself

want? But serving asks, what does

someone else need?

And I have needs.

I have things that I need to get done in

life. I've got worries and concerns.

Man, Christian service isn't pretending

personal needs don't exist. We're not

saying just focus on everyone else and

whatever you've got going on, forget

about it. We're not saying neglect that,

but it's recognizing that other people

have needs, too. I'm not the only one

with needs.

And this helps me when I'm driving. When

someone cuts me up, when someone's an

idiot on the road, it helps me to think

that maybe they're going somewhere

important. Maybe they need more help

than I do. Maybe they're visiting

someone in hospital. And it always helps

me to think about what other people are

going through. Cuz there are people

around us in this church today, in your

workplace, in your family that are

carrying things we know nothing about.

Cuz they're good at putting on a face.

They're good at putting on an act.

They're good at making it look like

everything is together,

but we're carrying something. And I want

to encourage you. We have a prayer team

here today. If you're carrying something

that you've had a mask on for so long

and you're trying to pretend that

everything's good, but it's not, I'd

love to invite you to get prayer with

our team today. They would love to pray

with you and for you. And if you're here

and you're feeling like that, we are

praying for you today. And sometimes the

difference between feeling invisible and

feeling valued is one person deciding to

serve them.

I love that we hear stories time and

time again in our church that people

have come to our church and it was

simply a smile from someone at the door.

It was the gentleness of someone showing

them to their seat. It was the

excellence of which our band plays. It's

with the eloquence of the preacher who

was preaching. Must mean someone else

preaching that day.

You laughed a bit too much there. Come

on. Whoa.

Maybe it was the love that our next

steps team connected with you. Maybe it

was the joy of our kids team that you

connected with. And we hear stories time

and time and time again about how

someone came in feeling invisible but

left feeling valued. And serving begins

when we start seeing people. when we

notice who's around us, when we notice

what they're going through, when we look

them in the eyes and it can be as

something as simple as their name

because there's power in a name. I met a

guy about two, three years ago at a

conference and got to meet him and say,

"Oh, how's it going?" Got to know his

name. Lived in India has it hard for

Ireland. I'd love to plant a church here

one day. And got chatting to him and he

went home after the conference back to

India. life went on three years later he

comes back to the conference again and I

seen him so I said hello Daniel it's

good to have you back

and his jaw dropped he could not believe

that after two or three years I

remembered his name that I could

remember that he was from India and he

had a a church there and he was the

assistant pastor and he had a heart to

plant in Ireland all these things and he

was perplexed

that I remembered his name and in that

moment he felt valued because as a

member of staff at the conference. He

was like, "Well, he's busy. He's got

other things to be getting on with." But

yet, I remembered his name. And in that

moment, what made him feel valued was

simply me seeing him and me remembering

my name. So, I want to encourage each

and every one of us to look up, to look

around, and to notice the people around

us because so often in life, this is our

posture. We're looking down and there's

so many notifications as as and as I

look through my notifications. I'm

thinking my head's gone there and I've

gone here and I'm just trying to get

through life and I'm on autopilot

because I'm looking at all these

notifications.

But I want to encourage you to look up.

Take your eyes off yourself, your own

problems, your own notifications trying

to get your attention and look around.

Notice what other people are going on

around you.

Don't wait for an invitation to serve,

but look for an opportunity to serve. Is

there someone struggling with their

bags? Can you go up and just simply help

them? Is there someone stuck thinking,

"How am I going to do this?" We were

flying home the other week and I seen a

woman and she had two kids in a buggy

and she was just stopped because the

airport that we were at was the worst

airport for access. There was no li

there was no lifts anywhere. We had to

lift our buggy and all these different

things. It was terrible. So, I'm

standing at the top of the stairs and I

have to bring one baby down and then I'm

back upstairs to get our second baby.

And I notice her just standing. There's

no one else with her. It's just her and

two kids and she's trying to deal with

this boogie. And in that moment, I was

able to say, "Hey, can I help you with

your buggy?" and the joy on her face

because how is she going to deal with

the two toddlers in her hands and this

other baby trying to get down two

flights of stairs without a lift. So I

was able to help and serve her in that

moment because instead of just looking

at my issue, I was able to look around

and notice that she needed help, too. So

I was able to be Mr. Strong and lift

both buggies and feel really good about

myself because I was able to lift two

down the stairs. But what would it look

like if we did that this week? To look

around and to notice people and not just

to wait for an invitation, but to look

for an opportunity to serve. If you are

someone who won't serve without an

invitation, here is your formal

invitation from Pastor Matthew Francy to

serve. So there is your invitation to

serve at Lighthouse Church. But I want

to encourage you not to wait for

invitations, but to look for

opportunities in your everyday life to

serve. Because when we serve people,

we're not just doing good to them. We're

actually showing them something of God.

And that's the third point. Serving

shares the good of God. And we see this

in Peter's life. Peter was a disciple of

Jesus. And he was a follower of Jesus.

And he went around helping churches and

planting churches and um writing

letters. He wrote this letter in one

Peter um to encourage Christians. And he

says this in 1 Peter 4:10 and 11. He

1 Peter 4:10

says, "Each of you should use whatever

gift you have received to serve others

so that in all things God may be praised

through Jesus Christ." And Paul or Peter

was a fisherman and then he was called

to serve Jesus. So he had gifts. I have

gifts. You have gifts. The series that

we did before Level Up was called You

Are Gifted. And we told everyone who was

at that you are gifted. that God has

given each and every one of us gifts and

talents that we can use and you can find

it on our YouTube and our Spotify if you

want to watch it. But the crux of it is

we all have been given gifts. So today

this is your reminder that you have

something to contribute. You have

something to give. You have something to

use. And God has given you those gifts

to help serve other people. And God

hasn't given us those gifts simply so

that we can feel talented or we can

build our reputation. But he gives those

gifts so that his goodness can be

experienced by other people. That as I

use my gifts and my abilities that

people will see the goodness of God. So

we see this pattern that we're we

receive a gift that God has given each

and every one of us in this room

watching online in the parent lines.

We've all received a gift and then we

use that gift. The gift is in us but it

goes through us in service. So we serve

those around us.

We use that gift to refresh others. We

use that gift to help other people. And

as we receive that gift, as the gift

works through us in service, well then

God will get the glory. That God would

be the one that gets the attention. That

God is the one, not me, not my talent,

not my ability, but God would get the

glory.

Because there's so many of us that stop

here

that we have a gift

but we haven't used it in service but as

we use it in service God would get the

glory. And I want to encourage you if

you're here and you're not a Christ

follower and you don't care about this

part. You don't want to give God any

glory. You don't want to give him any

highlight.

Still serve. We have a community here

that needs help. We have sports clubs

that needs help. That your kids clubs

need help. that we would not function as

a society without volunteers. We've got

great organizations like Tidy Towns that

rely on volunteers. And our community is

as nice as it is because of people

volunteering and giving up their time.

So, I want to encourage every one of us,

even if we have faith or not, to use the

gift and the talent you have, put into

service, and that God will get the

glory. And there's people here that have

a gift and don't know how to operate in

it. There's people here and it's like,

well, I can't sing in the band, so I

can't join them and I'm not really techy

and I don't like kids and but if you

have a gift, God can use it. We need

people who can cook food.

We need people who can smile.

We need people who are good at marketing

and social media. We need people who

know what how websites work and Google

ads. And we need people who can

demonstrate leadership. We need people

who are loving and caring. We need all

of our gifts together.

Not just one. Not just someone who can

speak from the front. Not just people

who can sing. We need everybody. And I

want to encourage you to serve.

I want to encourage you to use your

gift. And we used this analogy in our

previous series about unopened gifts

that as we receive a gift, we don't want

to just give our friends or family a

gift and that's it. they just receive it

and then put it away. But actually, the

purpose of the gift is to be used. We

want them to take the gift, open the

box, and use the gift. We don't want

them to just simply receive it. We want

them to use it. And it's the same with

God. God wants you to use your gift. So,

I want to encourage you today, join a

team. We have many teams that serve on a

Sunday. We have our band. If you're

musical,

>> we'd love for you to join our team.

Yeah,

>> if you're techy, if you love lights and

cameras and

stuff,

cables, all those things, our production

team, there's a space for you in our

production team,

you'll be welcomed in.

If there's people here that think, "All

I can do is smile. All I can do is talk

to people."

We've got a fulture team and a next

steps team that connect with people that

welcome people in that no matter what

kind of week you've had that they want

to welcome you so that you forget

everything that's going on. We have a

kids team that serve your kids that they

would love for you to serve. If you have

if you love working with kids or you

have love just having fun and have high

energy, they would love for you to serve

there because we get to experience

church without our kids. I went on my

first proper family holiday with a

toddler. And it made me realize it's not

restful. I need a holiday after the

family holiday. And just imagine church

if we had our toddlers with us. If we

had our kids with us. Mommy, can I have

another snack? Can I have another

biscuit? Why is he talking so long?

Why's he got a funny accent? Like, what?

Why? What? What is going on in here? But

yet, we have a great team that able to

take your kids and give them an age

appropriate service for them. But

there's things that you don't see.

People that lead our social media,

people who make videos, people who

create graphics, people who know how

websites work, and people who make food

for us, and people who pray. There's

different parts of our church that you

may never see. So, you think, "My gift's

not needed here. But I want to encourage

you. There is a team for you. You might

have expertise that allow us as a church

to level up.

That we need everyone's gifts for us as

a church to level up. And as we as you

level up, we level up because as we all

come together, we all get stronger. So

as we land this plane, we see that

serving is good for us because we see

God does something in me. God does

something in you. We see that serving

does good to others. We see God does

something through me. And we also see

serving shares the good of God. God

reveals something of himself through me.

Three ways that we can level up through

service. Because every time we serve, we

have an opportunity to show somebody

what God is like. And I pray if you're

here and you don't follow Jesus, that

part of our serving today and our

serving of you has made you realize that

God loves you, that God cares for you,

that God has a plan and purpose for your

life, and God has been thinking about

you.

If you're watching online and you've

never come to our service, we'd love for

you to come and let us serve you so that

you would experience something of God

because we get to become a reflection of

the God we've received from that God has

given his life as a ransom for many. God

has given us gifts. God has given us his

love. God has given us his mercy and his

grace. And God has given us all these

things. And we can become that

reflection of him.

We don't serve to become like Jesus.

We serve because Jesus has already shown

us what love looks like. As he has given

us his life, as he has given us his all,

as he has refreshed us, we can be a

reflection of that. So I ask each and

every one of us here, what's your

response today?

How will you respond? Are you here and

you're not a Christ follower? Your

response today could be, "If Jesus loves

me that much, I want to give my life to

him. I want to serve him." Maybe you're

here and you have been to church for a

while and you've never served. You've

never felt like you've got a space or

somewhere to go or you've got something

blocking you. Take that. Have a

conversation with our next steps team.

We would love to help you take that next

step. And at the end of all our services

every single week, we encourage you to

take a next step because we want you to

level up. We don't want you stuck at

that level. We don't want you getting

frustrated at life and just getting

bored of life. But God wants you to

level up and experience life and life to

the full to experience and step into

your extraordinary

purpose.

Maybe you're here and you're on a dream

team and you're like, "I've made it. I'm

serving in church so I don't need to do

anything else.

We have a community out there that needs

served.

We've lost people that don't yet know

Jesus. We have things that we can do in

our community. But you're sitting here

waiting for an invitation. But yet, we

need you to step up and say, "Hey, I've

seen this opportunity. We could go as a

church and do this.

We can all level up.

whatever wherever we find ourselves

whether it's no faith whether it's

coming to church we haven't served yet

or we're actively serving we can all

level up today so how will you respond

what would it look like if all of us

started noticing people

and serving others that we looked around

we realized that the person beside us

needs help I know I need help and I've

got stuff going on but there's people

around me that need help and in me

helping them and refreshing them I too

will be refreshed ressed them too will

be refreshed and they will also see the

goodness of God in their lives. So I

want to invite you all to stand as we

consider and as we think about what does

it look like to level up? What does it

look like to start noticing people? What

does it look like to start serving?

What could it look like if we all asked

ourselves the question, how could I

serve somebody else this week? How could

I go into my workplace and instead of

just getting my job done for what I'm

paid for, how can I serve someone

in the family? How can I serve my how

can I serve my parents? How can I serve

my kids? How can I serve my spouse this

week? Or how can I serve my church? How

can I serve God this week? Because as

your pastor, our prayer is that you

would level up,

not experiencing the frustration of

being stuck on that same level time and

time and time again. Cuz eventually, we

just give up.

But I want to encourage you to consider

serving today

so that you would level up. And as you

level up, the people around you can

level up. And as we all level up, we'll

all experience the goodness of